


Pocket Paladin

by The_Opal_Essence



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Background Ezor/Zethrid - Freeform, Captured Lance, Cuban Lance (Voltron), Everyone Needs A Hug, F/F, F/M, Fluff and Angst, I honestly don't know how I came up with this idea, Insecure Lance (Voltron), Lance (Voltron) Angst, Lance gets shrunk, Lotor's a villain in this one, M/M, Minor Violence, Pining Keith (Voltron), Pining Lance (Voltron), Shenanigans, Shrinking, Slow Burn Keith/Lance (Voltron), background hunay, background shallura - Freeform, someone hug lance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-11
Updated: 2019-03-15
Packaged: 2019-03-29 19:47:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 40,191
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13934040
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Opal_Essence/pseuds/The_Opal_Essence
Summary: (Starts near the beginning of season 3, diverges from canon)While rescuing Shiro from the Galra, Lance is given a new perspective on life.  How will everyone handle his new stature and how long will he be stuck like this?  What does this mean for team Voltron?  What are the villains up to?or, Lance gets shrunk and shenanigans ensue.





	1. Where are they now?

**Author's Note:**

> I initially promised my beta reader that I'd have this written before season 3. We all see how that went haha. I've been working on this since season 2 ended and have tried to weave in some of the events from canon. There may be small edits to earlier chapters as I write more and more is revealed. I'm not going to be able to update this on any schedule, due to classes, but I will do my best. 
> 
> Lotor is going to be a villain in this one, but that could change by the end of the story.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> (Starts near the beginning of season 3, diverges from canon)
> 
> While rescuing Shiro from the Galra, Lance is given a new perspective on life. How will everyone handle his new stature and how long will he be stuck like this? What does this mean for team Voltron? What are the villains up to?
> 
> or, Lance gets shrunk and shenanigans ensue.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I initially promised my beta reader that I'd have this written before season 3. We all see how that went haha. I've been working on this since season 2 ended and have tried to weave in some of the events from canon. There may be small edits to earlier chapters as I write more and more is revealed. I'm not going to be able to update this on any schedule, due to classes, but I will do my best.

“Look out, Hunk!” Lance said as he flew the red lion out of the way of the robeast.  The robeast spread its wings and brought them down, creating a hurricane force wind tunnel aimed right at the yellow lion. 

“Ooof.  Aaaaaah!” Hunk yelled as he was thrown around mercilessly by the wind tunnel.

“Are you alright, Hunk?” Allura worriedly asked while she brought down some of the Galran fighter jets using the blue lion.

“Ugggh.  I’m okay.  Just remind me never to do that again.  I think I left my stomach behind.” Hunk groaned out through the coms. 

“I didn’t know that could happen to humans.  Do you need us to cover you while you go back and get it?” Allura asked.

“Oh, I didn’t actually leave my stomach behind.  It just means that my stomach is feeling upset.” Hunk informed her while he shot down another fighter jet.

“Why wouldn’t you just say that your stomach isn’t feeling well?” Allura questioned as she flew the blue lion out of the way of one of the robeast’s missiles.

“It’s an earth thing.  It’s a lot more fun to joke about it.” Lance explained as he shot down two fighter jets with the red lion.

“Now is not the time for jokes!  We have to keep the Galra’s attention on us while Pidge and Keith are on their ship.  They might be able to find out where the Galra are keeping Shiro and Pidge’s father.”  Allura snapped as she barely avoided getting caught in another wind tunnel that was unleashed by the robeast.

“Pidge, Keith.  How are things going on your end?” Hunk asked, including the other two paladins in the communication loop.

“I’ve almost downloaded the prisoner database here.  There aren’t any prisoners on board, so once we’re out you can open fire on the ship.  I’ve also got the ion cannon rigged to blow once we’re a safe distance away.” Pidge responded before going back to making sure that the Galra wouldn’t notice they were being hacked.

“How’s the robeast situation?” Keith asked.

“It’s going great!  You’re missing out on all the fun down here, Mullet.” Lance teased Keith while taking out yet another fighter jet.

“Will you stop calling me that?” Keith asked, annoyed at Lance’s comment on his hair.

“I will, if you get rid of the mullet and admit that I’m a better pilot than you.” Lance smugly answered.

“Well we know that’s not gonna happen anytime soon.” Pidge commented with a smirk in her voice.

“Oh come on.  I’m a great pilot, right Red?  Ooof” Lance yelled as he was hit by one of the fighter jets.

“Heh.  You were saying?” Keith commented failing to hide his amusement at the situation.

“Oh shut it mullet.  You try flying a different lion than you’re used to.” Lance grumbled out.

“I am?” Keith reminded Lance.

“Oh yeah.  Well at least I don’t have a mullet!” Lance exclaimed.

“Wow.  Great come back.  Can’t argue with that.” Pidge said with sarcasm evident in her voice.

“Paladins, please!  We have a mission to do here.  We need to focus on protecting the Vorurteil from the Galra empire, not on someone’s hairstyle.” Allura reminded everyone of the reason they were there in the first place while reprimanding Lance.  “We cannot allow any more planets to fall prey to the empire.”

“Don’t worry princess, Lancelot and his noble steed are on their way to save the day!” Lance said as he flew closer to the robeast to help Allura and Hunk.

“Good reference Lance!” Hunk encouragingly said as he shot down another fighter jet.

“Lancelot?  Who is Lancelot?” Allura asked as she froze a fighter jet before ramming into it and shattering it into space dust.

“You know, knight in shining armor, slayer of dragons, savior of princesses” Lance answered unaware of the missile coming right towards him.

Luckily, Allura noticed it and was able to push the red lion out of the way

“More like saved by the princess.” Hunk commented.

“Lance, are you implying that I can’t defend myself?” Allura asked.

“What? No!  You can take care of yourself.  Most princesses faint at the sight of danger, but you sure don’t.  You could kick my ass any day.”  Lance quickly said.

“Really?  Well in that case, it looks like you could use some more training.  That’s an extra (half/varga/hour) of training for everyone tomorrow.” Allura responded.

“Oh come on” groans and similar sounds came through the coms.  “Why should we all be punished because Lance couldn’t keep his big mouth shut?” Pidge asked.

“Because we’re a team.  We train together to win together.  What one individual does affects the whole team.  It is only fair that we share in their fate.”  Allura stated.

“Remind me why the girl with super strength is in charge of training.  Not all of us are Wonder Woman you know.”  Pidge muttered to herself.

“What was that, Pidge?” Allura asked, having not heard what she said clearly. 

“Nothing.  Just saying that I could use some peace and quiet so I can focus on not alerting the Galra to the fact that we’re on their ship.” Pidge responded.

“Sorry, Pidge.” Everyone chorused. 

Lance noticed that the robeast was aiming its missiles right at the yellow lion.  Hunk was distracted by all of the fighter jets swarming him and didn’t seem to be aware of it.  Not even thinking, Lance charged across the sky and slammed his lion into Yellow letting the missiles hit Red instead.  “Uggggh.  That’s going to leave a mark.” Lance groaned out.

“What did you do to Red?” Keith questioned.

“Nothing.  Sheesh.  We just got hit by the robeasts missiles.  She’ll be fine.  Stop backseat lion driving.” Lance answered.

“Can you two leave your little rivalry for later?  I got the database downloaded.  We’re on our way to our lions now.  Once we’re out, let’s form Voltron, defeat this robeast, and blow this popsicle stand.” Pidge said.

“We really should start naming the robeasts.  It’s hard to keep track of them.” Hunk suggested.

“I don’t think naming them is going to help us fight them.” Keith said.

“Yeah, but think how much better the story of saving Shae and the other Balmerans would be if instead of saying that we faced a robeast with lasers all over its arms we say that we fought the lazer squid.  It rolls off the tongue a bit nicer and adds a bit more of pizazz to the story.” Lance said as he used Red’s fire to melt through some of the fighter jets.  “Any suggestions for names for this one?”

“Yeah, how about shut up and focus Lance!” Pidge yelled through the coms as the Green and Black lions zoomed out of the Galra ship while the ion cannon exploded from the inside just as Pidge had told it to.

“Mmm good try, but I was thinking something more like the Terror-dactyl, cause it looks like a pterodactyl and inspires terror in it’s victims.” Lance responded.

“Good one, Lance.” Hunk commented.

“Could you please focus on the mission?  Honestly, it’s like dealing with a Glolnor.” Allura said, muttering the last part under her breath.

“Alright.  Let’s form Voltron and fight the pterodactyl.”  Keith said

“Keith, it’s called the terror-dactyl.” Lance tried to correct his teammate.

“That’s what I said.  The pterodactyl.” Keith responded.

“No, it’s…oh never mind.  We’ll work on it later.” Lance said

“Form Voltron!” Keith yelled as the paladins all flew in formation focusing on their bond as paladins.

“Did anyone see any weaknesses for this guy?” Pidge asked.

“Our lazer guns have some affect, but they aren’t able to pierce through the armor.”  Hunk answered.

“The most they could do is hold the creature at bay, but we can’t do that forever.” Allura added on.

“He didn’t seem to like Red’s fire.  Maybe we can try to draw him closer to the volcano over there.” Lance suggested.

“That’s…actually not a bad idea.” Allura commented.

“Why do you sound so shocked?” lance asked incredulously.

“Yeah, I mean, even a broken clock’s right twice a day.” Pidge said.

“Yeah, uh huh, exactly.  Wait…” Lance started to say before he was interrupted by Hunk yelling

“Guys!  On our left!”

“Pidge, shield!” Keith yelled upon seeing the robeast’s missiles heading right for them.  The impact from them hitting the shield was enough to push back Voltron.

“That gives me an idea!  We can use my gun to force this guy up against the volcano, just like how he was able to push us!” Lance said excitedly.

“That could work, but you’re not enough on your own.  We need more power if we want to push this guy back.” Keith commented.  “Hunk, your weapon should work, so get ready.”

“I was born ready.”  Hunk said.

“Now!” Keith yelled as Pidge’s shield went away and Hunk’s cannon emerged.  He fired at the Terror-dactyl and hit it dead on.

“Direct hit!  Nice shot, Hunk!” Lance called out as the robeast stumbled back towards the volcano.

“Thanks, I try.” Hunk said.

“One more hit like that should force the Terror-dactyl right next to the volcano.” Pidge remarked.

“He’s starting to get up, guys!” Lance exclaimed.

“Hunk, how long until your cannon’s charged?” Keith asked.

“Just a tic more and…ready when you are.”

“Ready, aim, fire!”

Most of the shots hit the Terror-dactyl, but a few of them missed and hit the side of the volcano.  Unbeknownst to them, this robeast still had one trick up its sleave.  As Keith summoned his sword, the Terror-dactyl fired what looked like a net at Voltron.

“Really?  A net?  That’s the best the Galra can do?” Pidge commented with a smug look on her face.

Suddenly electricity flowed through the net that had Voltron in its clutches.

“What the cheese?  I can’t move!”  Lance yelled.

“Neither can I!” Allura said, with the rest of the paladins confirming that they were also unable to move.  “Somehow, this net must be able to immobilize Voltron.  We can’t get out!”

“What do we do, Keith?” Lance asked worriedly.

“I…I don’t know.” Keith responded, voice sounding small.

“What do you mean you don’t know?  You’re our leader!” Lance yelled on the verge of panic.

“That doesn’t mean I know everything!” Keith yelled back.

“Shiro would know what to do.” Lance muttered to himself.

“Well, guess what, Lance.  I’m not Shiro.  He’s not here.” Keith responded angrily, though that anger was more directed at himself.

“If you would _please_ stop antagonizing each other perhaps we could figure a way out of this situation.” Allura interjected.

“Sorry Allura.” They chorused.  Suddenly they were thrown in the air towards the base of the volcano.

“Uggh.  I still can’t move.  Pidge, do you think you can hack our way out of here?” Hunk asked.

“No.  Green won’t let me in.  The net is stopping the lions from doing much of anything.” She responded.

“Does anyone else feel like the ground is shaking?” Lance asked.

“Now that you mention it, yes.” Allura answered.

“I think the volcano’s going to erupt!  Hunk’s cannon fire and Voltron hitting it must have triggered it.” Pidge said.

“Can Voltron survive lava?” Hunk’s worry showed in his voice.

“For a short while, yes, but only the red lion can survive more than 5 dobashes.” Allura responded.

“So we’ve got 7 minutes until we’re toast.  Literally.”  Lance said.

“We’ve got to get out of here!  Can anyone move?” Hunk asked only to receive a chorus of “no” in response.

Suddenly there was a great sound of thunder as a plume of smoke rose up into the air.  Lava began to flow down the slope of the volcano all the while the robeast approached Voltron, ready to strike.

“It was nice knowing you all…and Keith.” Lance said.

“Really, Lance?” Keith said exasperatedly.

“Do you still have to pick a fight with Keith when we’re about to die?” Pidge yelled through the coms.

The lava was nearly upon them.  The Terror-dactyl roared in Voltron’s face as it steadied itself against the volcano and Voltron to aim its missiles right at the lions.  Before it could fire, the lava reached its hand that was on the volcano.  With an agonizing roar, it released its hold on Voltron and stumbled away.

“We’re free!  Let’s go!” Keith said as Voltron regained its movement and stood to take down the robeast once and for all.

“Your sword should be able to pierce through the armor.” Allura commented.

“It would be better if it were Shiro’s flaming sword.” Keith said dejectedly.

“Well, if all else fails, Hunk can always knock him back into the lava.” Lance suggested.

“Yeah, if we don’t get caught in that net again.” Hunk worried out loud.

“We won’t.  We know about it, so he no longer has the element of surprise.  We got this guys!”

“Everybody ready?  Let’s go!” Keith said as they approached the beast once more. 

The Terror-dactyl had finished grieving over its charred skin and was ready to finish what it was created to do.  Voltron and the Terror-dactyl charged at one another.  The robeast fired its net at Voltron once again, but they were able to dodge it.  With a quick swing of the sword, the robeast was sliced clean through.  Its corpse fell into the lava that still flowed down the volcano.

* * *

“The Vorurteil humbly thank you all for ridding our planet of the Galra.”

“It was the least we could do after receiving your message.  You must be Virelai.”  Allura said.

“And you must be Princess Allura.  Even here we have heard tell of you and Voltron.”  Virelai said at seeing her surprise at knowing who she was.  “Thought I must say, the stories do not do your beauty justice.”

Allura blushed slightly at the comment before regaining her composure.  “Thank you, but we are not here to just exchange compliments.  We would be honored if you would be willing to join the Voltron Coalition.  Together, we will be able to defeat the Galra empire once and for all.”

While the two leaders were discussing, Lance looked over at Keith and noticed a thin line of blood flowing down his face.  “You’ve got something on your face, Mullet.”  He said while pointing at Keith’s cheek.

“I wish you would stop calling me that.” Keith said as he brushed away the blood with his hand.  “I must have bumped my head during the fight.”  He began to take off his helmet to better inspect the wound.

A wave went through the crowd as the Vorurteil nearest to them grabbed their rifles and pointed them at Keith.

“What is the meaning of this?” Princess Allura asked.

“He is Galra.”  Virelai spat out, fury evident in her voice.

The other paladins formed a circle around Keith to shield him from the crowd upon seeing their reaction to Keith’s ears giving away his Galran heritage. 

“So what if he’s part Galra?  He is a paladin of Voltron!” Pidge exclaimed.

“A position for which his kind should never have been chosen for.” Virelai retorted.

“He risked his life to save your planet.  I believe the words you’re looking for are thank you.” Lance said.

One of the Vorurteil near them spat at Keith “I would rather _die_ than be saved by the likes of _them_!”

“Okay, that’s a bit harsh there.  How about everyone puts their guns down so we can talk this out peacefully.” Hunk put his hands in front of him in a calm down motion.

“And leave ourselves defenseless for him to attack?” Another Vorurteil yelled out in the crowd.  “How do we know you aren’t working for the Galra empire?”

“I can assure you that we are not and will _never_ affiliate ourselves with the Galra empire.”  Allura responded.

“And yet there is a Galra among you.” Virelai icily spoke as she narrowed her eyes.

“ _Keith_ is a valued member of our team.” Allura emphasized Keith’s name.

“Yeah!  He’s one of the good Galra!” Lance exclaimed.

“The only good Galra is a dead Galra.” Someone in the mob shouted.  Other voices echoed in agreement.

“Actually, that’s not true.  The Blade of Marmora have helped us out quite a bit.” Hunk continued trying to calm the crowd.

“And just who are the Blade of Marmora?” Virelai raised a hand to silence the crowd.

“They are a group of Galra who fight against the empire and among our most trusted allies.” Allura replied.  “Keith himself is a member, as was his mother.”

“How do you know that his mother and the others were not preparing him to be a mole on your team?” Virelai prompted.

“Well, that would be kind of hard for them to do given that my mother left when I was a baby.  I only found out I was part Galra a month, err, pheeb ago.” Keith responded.

“Yeah.  Don’t go around dissing the Blade of Marmora.  Without them, Voltron wouldn’t be here now.” Lance commented.

“If it were not for the actions of their man on the inside, Thace, Voltron would have been in the Galra Empire’s clutches.  All would have been lost.” Allura stated.

“Not to mention if Ulaz hadn’t freed Shiro, we wouldn’t have even found Blue at all.  Without the Blade, there would be no Voltron.” Lance added on.

“We owe everything to them.” Allura said.

There was indistinct mummering though out the crowd before Virelai once more silenced them with a wave of her hand.

“If what you say is true, then perhaps there is hope for an alliance.  There’s just one problem.  How would we tell someone from the Blade from someone from the Empire?”

“If they truly are from the blade, they will have a knife like this.” Keith said as he held up his knife.  “They will also be able to activate it like so.” A purple light surrounded the knife as it transformed into a messer.  “Only those with Galra blood who have officially joined the Blade can do this.”

“Thank you for this information.  We thank you all once more for your assistance and would be honored to be included in the coalition.  I would also like to apologize for my people’s and my reaction to you, Keith.  We should know better than to judge based on what one is.  It is one’s actions that determine who they are.” Virelai said as she bowed her head to Keith.

“You don’t have to apologize.  I know how hard it can be to accept that there are good Galra out there when the Empire is doing such terrible things.  It took me some time to accept that part of myself.” Keith responded.

“It was an adjustment for everyone.  I was…less than welcoming to the idea.  The empire had destroyed my planet and my people among many others.  How could someone of their blood possibly be chosen as a paladin of Voltron?  I did come to realize that it was not Keith who did those things.  The people who committed those atrocities are long dead, save for Zarkon and Haggar.  I could never forgive them for what they have done, but their descendants I could seek reconciliation with.  I trust Red and Black’s choice in Keith serving as a paladin.” Allura stated.

“Both Lions chose him as a paladin?  Is that why he wears red yet pilots the black lion?” Virelai asked.

“Something like that.  Our true black paladin, Shiro, was captured by the Galra.  I’m just subbing for him until we find him.  I don’t like to think of myself as the black paladin.  I’m the red paladin and once Shiro’s back, I’ll go back to piloting Red.” Keith responded.

“Is that why some of the rest of your team’s colors don’t correspond with their lion’s colors?” Virelai prompted.

“Yep, you got it pretty lady.” Lance responded.  “It has taken some getting used to, but the ‘paladin shuffle’ has held up.  We’ve had our struggles, but they help us grow closer as a team.”

“And we as a people are thankful for it.  You can count on the assistance of the Vorurteil in your fight against the Galra Empire.”  Virelai stated.

“Here’s a communicator.  If the Galra Empire comes back, give us a call and we’ll be happy to assist you.” Allura said as she handed the communicator to Virelai.

* * *

“Greetings paladins!  How did the mission go?” Coran asked as the rest of team Voltron filed into the bridge of the castleship. 

“It went well.  The Vorurteil have agreed to become part of the coalition.” Allura responded.

“How are the castle upgrades going?” Hunk asked.

“Quite well in fact.  Within a few varga, the particle barrier should be able to withstand more than a single blast from an ion cannon.”  Coran replied.  “I am sorry that I couldn’t provide any air support for you all on the mission.  My grandfather designed the ship to upgrade something only when the system was turned off.  If the ship had been there, it would have been a sitting…what was that animal you said, number 5?”

“A sitting duck.” Pidge supplied.

“Ah yes.  A sitting duck.  Quite the interesting creatures your planet has.” Coran commented.

“Well, if we’re ever in the neighborhood, we could make a pit stop and show you a duck.” Lance said.  “My family has a farm in Cuba, so there would be plenty of animals for you to see.”

“That would be smashing!” Coran replied.  “Is there anymore news?”

“Not yet.  Shiro and Dad weren’t on board, but I did download their prisoner database.  I should be able to find a clue of some sort in there once I decode it.” Pidge said as she tried to stifle a yawn.

“That’s wonderful!  I wish you luck.” Coran exclaimed.

“Please do try not to stay up all night working on it.  Remember, extra training in the morning.  For every dobash one of you is late, it’s an extra 5 dobashes for everyone.” Allura reminded the team.

“Yeah, Lance.” Pidge snidely remarked.

“Hey, it takes time to look this good.” Lance said as he gestured to his face.

“You’re joking, rights?” Keith said with a small snicker.

“I wouldn’t expect some desert heathen to understand that moisturizer is your friend.” Lance said in a joking manner.

“Oh ha ha.” Keith said dryly.

“I can go whip up something in the kitchen if anyone’s hungry.  I think I’ve perfected space pancakes.” Hunk suggested.

“Woohoo! Breakfast for dinner is the best!” Pidge exclaimed.

“That sounds delightful, Hunk.  What are pancakes?” Allura asked.

“Wait.  You’ve never had pancakes?  They’re like one of the best kinds of food ever.  You haven’t lived until you’ve tried Hunk’s.” Lance responded.

“Yeah.  He makes the best pancakes in the universe.” Pidge added on.

“Aww, guys.  You’re gonna make me blush.” Hunk commented.  “But if I’m gonna make the ‘best pancakes in the universe’, I’m going to need a taste tester.”

“Called it!” Lance excitedly raised his hand in the air as everyone made their way to the kitchen.

* * *

Before heading off to bed, Lance had finally gotten the chance to ask Coran about the creature Allura had mentioned during their battle on Vorteil.  The conversation was still floating through his mind as he tried to fall asleep.

“A Glolnor?  They’re brainless creatures from planet Gleedon.  Quite daft little things.  My grandfather said that some once tried to keep them as pets, but they had a tendency to become distracted.  Quite a few died because they were distracted from eating.  Can you imagine being that senseless?” Coran said with a chuckle.

“No, I can’t.” Lance said while thinking _‘I guess that’s how Allura sees me.’_

“Why do you ask?”

Not wanting to say Allura had referred to him being similar to one of those creatures, Lance quickly said “Oh, I just read it in something in the library.”

“Ah.  It’s nice to see you contributing more to the team.”

_‘Guess I don’t contribute enough.’_

Other bits of conversations started spiraling in his head as he tried to fall asleep.

 _‘Not enough.’_ Keith said

 _‘Broken.’_ Pidge commented.

 _‘No.  That’s not true.’_ Lance tried to assure himself.

 _‘Shut up.’_ Pidge spoke again.

 _‘Focus on the mission.’_ Allura said.

 _‘I was.  I do focus on the mission.  I just have my own way of dealing with things.’_ Lance weakly argued.

 _‘Stop antagonizing each other.’_ Allura stated.

 _‘Worst pilot’_ Keith commented.

 _‘Naturally dumb.’_ Hunk said.

 _‘The only reason you’re here is that the best pilot in your class had a discipline issue and flunked out.’_ Iverson barked out.

 _‘I know I’ll never be as good as Keith or any of them, but I’m trying.’_ Tears began to fall.  _‘Why can’t they see that?’_

He heard a worried *Squeak* from his nightstand.

“Oh.  Hey, Chulatt.” Lance sat up as he brushed away his tears.  “What are you doing here?”

Chulatt started doing charades to talk to Lance.

“You’re worried about me?”

The space-mouse nodded with a *Squeak* of agreement.

“You don’t have to be, though it’s nice to know someone cares.”

Chulatt raised his hands in a grabbing motion.

“You want me to pick you up?  Okay.  Hop on.” Lance said as held his hand flat on the nightstand next to Chulatt. 

The blue mouse climbed onto his palm and gave him a thumbs up. 

“Alright, going up.” Lance raised his hand that was holding Chulatt. 

The mouse held onto his thumb like a handrail.  Once he was in front of Lance’s face, he started hugging himself.

“You want a hug?”

*Squeak*

“Aww.  How can I say no to that face?”  Being careful not to squeeze Chulatt too hard, Lance lowered him to his chest and pressed him against it. 

Chulatt nuzzled into the embrace as Lance began to pet him.  A few minutes passed as Lance continued to pet him.

“Thanks for worrying about me, but it’s getting late and I’m sure Allura and the other space-mice are wondering where you went.  You should probably head back before they miss you.  Oh!” Lance exclaimed as he brought Chulatt back in front of his face.  “Before you go, can you keep this between us?  I don’t want anyone else to know I was crying.  I know crying is not a bad thing, but please?  I got some mouse treats at the space mall.  If you don’t tell, I’ll give you one.”

Chulatt tilted his head to the side in a thinking motion before gesturing to Lance, crossing his arms and shaking his head, then moving his fists to his eyes and making a crying motion.

“You’ll think about it if I stop crying?”

*Squeak*

“Alright.  You drive a hard bargain, but I’ll try to stop crying.  You’re very persuasive for such a small mouse.”

Chulatt let out an indignant *Squeak* and stomped his foot on lances palm.

“Sorry, sorry.  For such a sweet mouse.”

Chulatt beamed at the praise as Lance placed him back on top of the nightstand.

Lance opened the drawer on his nightstand and pulled out the bag of treats.  He grabbed one out of the bag and handed it to Chulatt.

“There you go.”

*Squeak*

“You’re welcome.  Good night.”

*Squeak* Chulatt said before he dashed back off towards Allura’s room.

Lance tried to fall asleep once more.  The voices were still present in his head, but they were much quieter now.  He soon drifted off into a dreamless sleep.

* * *

“Sir, the paladins were able to defeat the cruiser and the robeast.” Acxa informed Lotor.

“I would have expected nothing less of them.  Truly remarkable.  We have their leader, and yet they remain a force to be reckoned with.” Lotor responded calmly.

“There’s more.  The green one was able to access and download the prisoner database you put on the ship, just like you said they would.” Ezor added on.

“Perfect.  They’re playing right into our hands.” Lotor stated.

“Why did you put that on there anyway?  Now they’re going to know where all of our prisoners are.” Ezor questioned.

“It’s all part of the plan.  Besides, they’re only interested in two of our prisoners.  And of those two, they are more likely to go where they believe we’re holding their leader.  That location is the only accurate information in the database.” Lotor explained.

“I still don’t get why we couldn’t have gone there and bashed some heads.” Zethrid said as she cracked her knuckles.

“All good things to those who wait.  We can chase them in circles like a yupper chasing its tail, or we can wait for them to come to us.  They have something we need.  It would do us no good to destroy them at this point.”

“Ooooh.  Are we going to trade their leader for it?” Ezor asked.

“Something like that.” Lotor said with a smug smirk on his face.

Narti pulled up some of the security feeds from the cruiser the paladins had taken down earlier.  These cameras were powered remotely by their ship, so the paladins were none the wiser to being observed and mistakenly believed that they had shut down all security feeds on board.

“Narti’s right.  We should continue to analyze the security feeds of the paladins.” Acxa said.

“Yeah!  That way we know the best way to beat them in a fight!” Zethrid exclaimed.

“Remember, there will be a fight, but we will let them get away with what they came for.” Lotor directed at Zethrid.

“As long as I get to fight the princess again, I’m happy.” Zethrid said.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! Leave a comment if you'd like. I'll do my best to answer questions without revealing too much plot.
> 
> If you want to draw any fanart, feel free, just PLEASE no vore.


	2. Downtime

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just a little bit of what the Paladins are doing during their downtime between missions and training. Everyone has their own de-stress activity or work that they're doing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone, I'm not dead! Sorry it's been a few months since I've done anything here. Don't worry, I haven't forgotten about this story. I will finish writing it. I was on vacation for a month and I've been focussing on job searching since I got back. I worked on this a few sentences when I could. I hope the wait was worth it for you all.

               “What’s cooking good looking?” Lance said as he walked into the kitchen.

               “Just making some cookies for everyone.  How many times are you going to use that line?” Hunk chuckled.

               “As many times as you let me.”  He started walking towards where Hunk was working.  “Need any help?”

               “Don’t think so.”  A timer went off.  “Oh!  That’s the next batch.”  Hunk ran over to the oven and grabbed the tray and placed it on the hot-pads on the counter.

               “Aww, look how tiny these ones are!”  Lance said as he grabbed one of the smaller cookies on the cooling rack, pinching it between his fingers.

               “Those are for the space mice and I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but the space mice are tiny.”  Hunk playfully said.  “I’m not about to give them a full-sized cookie each.  Can you imagine Allura’s reaction to the space mice getting sugar rushes?  She’s terrifying when she wants to be.”

               “No arguments here.  I’ve been on the receiving end enough times.” A sad look flickered across Lance's face before he flashed a smile and continued.  “I just love how you’re able to make these mini-meals, big guy.  You’re truly a gentle giant.”

               “haha, thanks, but really, it’s not too difficult.”  Hunk sheepishly said.  “All I had to do was recalibrate all of the kitchen systems to accommodate for the smaller food and not burn it to a crisp.  Then it’s just a matter of having a steady hand to get things to be the right size.”

               “That’s still impressive.  I don’t think I could do all of that.  Maybe the steady hand part, but that’s about it.  Engineering’s not my strong suit.”

               “Don’t I know it.  Remember that project at the Garrison?” 

               “Hunk!  I thought we agreed never to talk about that again.  I had to pencil in my eyebrows for weeks!”

               “Sorry.”  Hunk chuckled.

               “Speaking of projects, how is the mouse shower coming along?”

               “It’s coming.  There’s just a lot of small parts to figure out how to use.  They don’t exactly have a build-it-yourself one.  I’ve broken so many mini pipes trying to cut them to the right size and fit them together.”  Hunk sighed.

               “Pidge could probably help there.  She’s got the smallest hands out of all of us.”  Lance suggested.  “You could even get the space mice to help you.  They’re the ones who are going to be using it.”

               “Yeah, but I wanted to build it as a gift for them.  They do a lot to help around here, I don’t want to make them build their own present.  Pidge is busy with her own projects and I don’t want to bother her.  Oh, speaking of Pidge, would you be able to bring this wrench back to her?  I’ve still got a few batches to make.”

               “No problem.  Do you want me to bring some cookies around for everyone?”

               “If you aren’t busy”

               “No worries.” Lance grabbed a plate from a cupboard and loading the cookies on it, including some of the mini ones for the space mice.  “See ya later.  Happy baking!”

* * *

               As Lance approached Green’s hanger, he heard a string of colorful language.

               ‘ _Pidge is definitely in there._ ’

               Lance opened the door and walked in.  He didn’t see Pidge at first.  Then he heard the clang of something metal falling near Green.

               “Quiznak!”

               “Hey Pidge.”

               “Aaagh!”  Pidge yelped as she fell from her hiding place.  Luckily, she didn’t have far to fall.

               “Sorry.” Lance winced.  “Didn’t mean to scare you.  Are you ok?”

               “I’m fine.” Pidge dusted herself off.  “Why are you always like that?”

               “Like what?”

               “So loud.”

               “What can I say, I’m a loud and proud kind of guy.”

               “And modest too.”

               “Aww.  Thanks, Pidge.”

               “Did you need something?” Pidge started walking towards Lance wondering why he would be coming to Green’s hanger.

               “Hunk made some cookies for everyone and wanted to return this wrench to you.  Where should I put them?”

               “You can just put them on the workbench over there.  I’ll put the wrench away later.”  Pidge made her way to the workbench and grabbed one of the cookies.  She raised one to her mouth but paused.  “Hunk didn’t put any skultrite in these, right?”  she questioned the blue color.

               “Nope.  No skultrite in these bad boys thanks to you labeling everything in the kitchen.  Hunk appreciates it.”

               “I think we all appreciate it.” Pidge snickered before taking a bite of her cookie.

               “True.  Hey, are you ok?” Lance looked over and asked seeing Pidge’s eyes tearing up.

               “I’m ok.” Pidge rubbed her eyes.  “These just taste exactly like the ones my mom always made.  How is Hunk able to do that?”

               “Don’t know.  It’s his gift.  Are you sure you’re ok?”

               “I don’t know.”

               “Do you want to talk about it?”

               “Yeah.”

               “You said that they reminded you of your mom’s.”

               “My mom would always make peanut butter chocolate chip cookies whenever we had something to celebrate.  Birthdays, anniversaries, when Matt got in the Garrison, when we got Bae Bae.  I think I get my peanut butter addiction from her.  Also my love of computers.” Pidge smiled a bit at that.  “She made a lot of cookies for the Kerberos mission.  So they could have a taste of home.”

               “That’s really nice.”

               “Yeah, it is.” She sniffed.  “It’s just, she’s all alone back on earth.  Well, alone except for Bae Bae.”

               “Bae Bae?”

               “Our dog.  He’s a sweetheart.  I don’t think he ever understood where my dad was when he went on missions.  When Matt and Dad went to Kerberos, he waited by the door all day for them to come back.  When they said that the Kerberos mission had crashed, he still waited there.  My mom was heartbroken, but she refused to believe what the Garrison was telling us.  With two of the greatest minds and one of the greatest pilots from the Garrison on board, how could they crash?  That’s when I decided to sneak into the Garrison to find answers.  Iverson caught me and banned me from the premises, but not before I saw enough to know that they didn’t crash and the Garrison was hiding that fact.  I wasn’t able to download anything before I was caught, so I knew that I would have to find another way in to get concrete evidence.  Seeing as I was banned, I decided to register as a boy.”

               “You literally pulled a Mulan,” Lance commented.

               “Yeah, I guess I did.” She snickered.  “I even used Matt’s nickname for me from when we were little.”

               “Wait, Pidge isn’t your name?”

               “You thought it was?”

               “You never said anything.”

               “I didn’t think I had to.  Anyways, I tried to hide what I was planning to do from my mom, but she found out when she saw my first attempt at giving myself a boy haircut.  Nothing gets past her.  I can still hear her saying ‘Kathleen Marie Holt, if you think for one second that I’m going to let you sneak into a government facility on your own, you must be crazy.’  She helped me get everything ready.  Together, we forged all the documents I would need to pass for someone else.  I used her maiden name as my last name.  ‘Pidge Gunderson’ was declared a cousin of the Holts, hence the similar looks.  We called my Aunt Jennifer to let her know about her sudden new child in case the Garrison ever decided to call her to verify anything.  I called her maybe every other week from the payphones at the Garrison to help keep up the façade.  I called my mom every week to give her updates on what progress I was making, but I used my cell phone for that so the Garrison wouldn’t be spying on our conversations.”

               “Wait, the Garrison did that?” Lance thought back on all of his conversations with his family when he would start crying from being homesick.

               “They’re a government facility working to improve technology for our country.  Of course they’re going to spy on the phones on their grounds.  They don’t want anyone leaking any information.  That’s why I had to call my aunt from their payphones, so the Garrison would see that ‘Pidge’ was talking to her family about completely normal stuff.  That’s also why my mom and I made sure my phone wouldn’t be able to be spied on.  I gave her updates every week.  The last thing I sent her was a picture of all of us with Shiro when we were all in Keith’s shack.  I gave her all of your names in case the Garrison tried to cover this up like they did Kerberos.  I wonder what they did say.  I mean, three cadets all just disappear overnight when there was a code red going on?  What could they possibly say to that?”

               “Do you think our families think we’re dead?” Lance asked.

               “No.  If any students at the Garrison died, it would launch an investigation into what happened.  That would be the last thing they would want.  Most likely, they’d say we ran away because we couldn’t handle the pressure and didn’t want to face our families.  Remember how our last simulator went?”

               “Yep.  We were not a great team back then.  And then Iverson just ripping us apart in front of everyone.  Not fun.”  Lance said remembering what Iverson had said that day.

               “Thanks for taking the brunt of what he said.  I get pretty defensive when my family is involved.”

               “No problem Pidge, err, Kathleen?”

               “I go by Katie, but don’t tell Hunk.  If he doesn’t guess my real name in one movement, this girl’s going to be 20 GAC richer.”

               “Got it.  My lips are sealed.” Lance said while doing zip it, lock it, put it in your pocket.

               “What are you, 5?”

               “On a scale from 1 to 5, yes.”

               “You sound like Matt.”

               “Is he charming and suave?” he held a finger gun under his chin to emphasize what he was saying.

               “No.  He was a big dork, but he was always able to cheer me up.  He’s a great brother.  The best brother a girl could have.”  Pidge wistfully said.

               “I’m sure we’ll find him and your dad soon.  Shiro too.”

               “I know.  It’s just… what if they’re…”

               “Nope.  Don’t you finish that sentence.  They’re alive and trying to get back home.  Just wait until they find out you’re a paladin!  They’re going to be so proud of you!”

               Pidge suddenly latched onto Lance in a hug which he quickly returned.  “Thanks, Lance.”

               “What for?”

               “For listening.”

               “No problem, Pidge.”

               A screen over the workbench suddenly turned on and they saw Coran’s face on it.

               “Hey, Coran.” Lance and Pidge said.

               “Hello, Pidge and Lance.  Wouldn’t have expected both of you to be here.  Anyhoo…Pidge, you wouldn’t happen to have borrowed my impact driver, did you?”

               “Oh yeah.  Where did I put that?” Pidge started scanning the workbench for the tool, but Lance beat her to it.

               “Is this one yours, Coran?” Lance held up the impact driver to the screen.

               “Yes!  Would you be able to bring it to me?  I’m in the med bay by the healing pods right now.”

               “No problem.”

               “Excellent!  Out and over!”

               “Guess that’s my cue,” Lance said as he grabbed the plate of cookies and started for the door.

               “Wait.  How did you know what an impact driver is?” Pidge asked.

               “I did theatre for years.  The whole cast and crew worked together to build the sets.  Impact drivers are life savers.  Anyways, see you later Pidge.”

* * *

               “I got your impact driver, Coran.  Also some of Hunk’s cookies.”  Lance said as he entered the med bay area.

               Coran emerged from behind one of the healing pods.

               “Thank you, my boy.  Now I can finish this up.”

               “What are you working on?”

               “Just updating a few things here and there.  This should help speed up the healing process in this healing pod.  Slav has quite a few ideas for upgrading things,” Coran begrudgingly admitted, “but I’d rather not have him be too involved in it, even if he did send over some plans.”

               “Same here.”

               “Could you give me a hand here for a tic?”

               “Sure.  What do you need me to do?”

               “Just hold this piece here.  Slav seems to forget that in this reality Alteans only have 2 arms.”  Coran used the impact driver on the part.  “I’m just glad we don’t have to listen to him blabber on about how outdated he believes the castleship is.  Altean technology is second to none.”

               “Yeah, I mean, the Galra had 10,000 years to improve their technology and they still aren’t better than your tech.  Though, there is always room for improvement.”

               “I know,” Coran lowered the impact driver “but it almost feels wrong to alter things about the castleship.  My grandfather worked so hard to build this.  I would hate to ruin what he created.”

               “Coran, you know basically everything about this ship.  There’s no way you could quiznak it up.”

               “Oh, you used quiznak correctly.”  Coran wiped an imaginary tear from his eye.  “I feel like a proud father gren.”

               “Well, I learned from the best.”

               “Haha.  My mother used to say that to my grandfather, and I used to say it to her, and…” Coran’s voice dropped off as he got a distant look in his eyes.

               “Are you ok, Coran?”

               “Ah, yes.  Just reminiscing a bit.”

               “You lost a lot of people on Altea.  I can only imagine what you and Allura are going through.”

               “It’s something I hope no one else will ever have to experience.”

               “Well, that’s why Voltron’s here to save the day!  Pow pow pow!” Lance said as he did his laser gun impression.

               “Haha.  Right you are my boy.” Coran said as he tightened the last screw into place.  “That should do it.  Let’s start it up.”

               Coran powered up the healing pod that he was working on.  The light in it sputtered before turning off.

               “Oh.”

               Suddenly, the lights lit up to full brightness.

               “It’s working!  You did it, Coran!” Lance exclaimed.

               “No, we did it, my boy.  Now we just need to wait for someone to be injured enough to need it so we can check for sure.  Any volunteers?” Coran joked as he grabbed a cookie from the plate.

               “Not today, sorry.  I’ve still got cookies to deliver.  Do you know where Allura is?  I know Keith’s training, cause what else does he do, but I don’t know where Allura is and I don’t want to wander the whole ship looking for her.”

               “I believe she’s in the library.”

               “Do you need any more help before I go?”

               “No, I should be ok.  They don’t call me the Coranic for nothing.” He struck a heroic pose.

               “Haha.  Alright.  See ya later, Coran.”

* * *

               When Lance walked into the library he almost tripped on a pile of books and tablets.

               “Whoa!” He yelled as he somehow managed to keep the tray from spilling while he regained his balance. 

               “Lance?  Is that you?”

               “Sure is, Princess.  I come bearing cookies.” Lance said as he carefully made his way through the maze of books scattered on the floor.  He found Allura and the space mice at one of the tables with a mountain of knowledge in front of them.  The space mice were looking at the pages of one of the open books and *squeaking* instructions and encouragement to Allura who was looking determinedly at a pencil in front of her.  She held her hand out and there was a pink aura around her and the pencil.  It started to twitch slightly, but you wouldn’t have noticed if you weren’t looking for it.  The pencil started to float off the table before the aura grew brighter and it shattered into pieces.  Luckily, the space mice had run behind one of the stacks of books, so they weren’t harmed. 

Allura sank in her chair with a sigh.  “I feel like I’m never going to get this right.”  She said putting her head in her hands.

“Don’t say that.  So you have a bit of trouble controlling your powers, big deal.  You still have these amazing powers.  You can definitely teach the Galra and Hagger a few things.”

“I just wish I had someone that could teach me how to control these powers.  Everyone who could is either dead or working with the Galra.  Being able to hit a target with a strong attack is good in a fight, but I want to be able to do more with these powers.  All I have to learn from is books and tablets that are over 10,000 years old.  The druids have years of training on me and it feels like I’ll never catch up.”

‘ _Kind of like me with Keith_.’ Lance thought.  “Hey, I know what can turn that frown upside-down.  Cookies a la Hunk.” he placed the tray down on the table.

“What kind are they?”

“Peanut butter chocolate chip, or as close as Hunk can get them to taste like that.  Hunk even made some mini ones for you guys.” Lance told the space mice who quickly scurried over to the plate to grab their mini cookies.

“I always wondered what Pidge meant by peanut butter.  Let me try something.”  Allura put her hand out again, this time with her palm facing the tray of cookies.  The cookie on top got a pink aura as well as Allura.  It began floating and slowly started floating towards Allura.  When it was just a foot away from her, the pink grew brighter as the cookie blasted into pieces that flew around the room with one of the larger pieces hitting Allura right on the nose.

               “I guess that’s how the cookies crumbles.”  Lance tried to hold in his laughter but eventually couldn’t help it.  “I’m sorry princess.  Your shocked face was just so perfect.” He said between laughs with Allura joining in.

               “It’s alright.  It’s good to laugh at one’s self from time to time.  In truth, it’s been quite some time since I’ve had a good laugh, what with Shiro missing and everything else.” Allura said as she reached over and grabbed a cookie from the tray

               “Yeah, it’s a lot on all of our shoulders, yours especially.  But your alchemy is getting better.  The cookie floated longer than the pencil before it broke.  If you ever need any encouragement, you know where to find me.”  Lance picked up the tray once more.  “I’ve got to get these to Keith.  See you, princess.”

* * *

               Lance could hear the clang of metal on metal before he opened the door to the training deck.  ‘ _Where else would Keith be?_ ’ He opened the door and saw Keith facing off against one of the gladiator bots on the other side of the room.  ‘ _Probably should wait until he’s done to let him know I’m here.  I don’t want to be the reason he got a black eye.  Again_.’ He remembered the last time he burst in and yelled to Keith who had looked over at him and got decked in the face by the gladiator.  Keith had been upset at first but brushed it off as nothing after Lance quickly apologized.

               Lance stayed close to the wall and found a ledge to put the plate of cookies on while waiting for Keith to finish.  He leaned against the wall and watched Keith fight the gladiator.  ‘How is he able to make it look so effortless?’ he thought as Keith managed to block a strike and slide behind the robot.  With a quick slash of his sword, the gladiator was down for the count.  Keith continued to slash at the robot, yelling in frustration.

               “I think you got ‘im,” Lance called out.

               Keith looked up at Lance in surprise and brought his sword down.  With the clashing of swords no longer ringing in the air, Lance could hear Keith’s heavy breathing.  Clearly, he’d been at this awhile.

               “Oh.  Didn’t see you come in.” Keith said in shock.

               “You seemed pretty occupied.  But dude, that was awesome!  You were all like” Lance imitated Keith swinging his sword “and he was all like, and then you…You’ve got to teach me how to do that!”

               “Umm.  I don’t really know how to teach.”

               “Oh.  Well, that’s ok.”

               “Did you come here to train?  I can leave if you want the deck to yourself.”

               “Nah.  Hunk made some more cookies, so I volunteered to bring them to everyone.”

               “What kind are they this time?”

               “Peanut butter chocolate chip.  I feel like I’ve said that too many times today.  Next time, I’m making a sign.”

               “It’s probably time I took a break anyway,” Keith said as he came over to where Lance was and sat down, back against the wall.  Lance went and grabbed the plate of cookies from the shelf and sat down next to Keith, placing the plate between them.

               “I also wanted to apologize for what I said on the mission yesterday.  I shouldn’t have said that you aren’t as good of a leader as Shiro.” Lance said with his head hanging low.

               “It’s ok, Lance.  You were right.  I’m not a great leader like Shiro.  I try to do what I think he would do, but it just seems to go wrong every time.” Keith said as he grabbed a cookie off of the plate.

               “Well yeah, you’re not like Shiro.  You’re Keith.  You run in guns blazing, or I guess sword swinging.  You have your own way of leading.  That doesn’t make you any better or worse a leader than Shiro.  There’s nothing wrong with having a different style than him.  You just have to ask yourself ‘What would Keith do?’ instead of worrying about what Shiro would do.”

               “What would Keith do?” Keith snickered as he said it out loud.

               “Exactly!  Wait, did you just smile?”

               “You have no proof.”

               “Next time, Kogane.  I can’t believe you’re still training.  I mean, I can, because it’s you, but we had extra training today.  How are you still going?”

               Keith shrugged.  “It relaxes me.”

               “Oh yeah, cause hitting one of the training bots repeatedly when it isn’t fighting back is _so_ relaxing.”

               “Think you could do better?” Keith smirked slightly.

               “You know it!” Lance said as he went over to grab the staff from the downed training bot.  “Let’s dance.”

               “I’m not going to go easy on you.”

               “Wouldn’t expect you to.”

* * *

 

(A few minutes later)

               “Oof,” Lance said as Keith pinned him again.

               “Had enough?”

               “I haven’t even gotten started yet.”

               “Could have fooled me.”

               Lance tried to fight against Keith, but he wasn’t able to break his hold.  ‘ _Maybe a distraction of sorts could work_.’

               “Is that a knife in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?”

               “It’s a knife.  What else would it be?” Keith responded confused, his grip not letting up.

               “I waste my best material on you.”

               Suddenly, the PA system in the castle turned on.

               “Guys,” Pidge said over the speakers.  “I think I found where they’re keeping Shiro.  Meet me on the bridge.”

               “She did it!” Lance exclaimed.

               “Last one to the bridge has to clean the healing pods for a week,” Keith said as he got off of Lance and started running.

               “No fair.  You got a head start.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> movement=week
> 
> I'm going to try to have the next chapter out a lot sooner. And I know I promised tiny Lance, but don't worry, that's coming in the next chapter. Sorry it's taking so long to get to the main part of the story. I just have a tendency to make things more complicated then they need to be. Hope you enjoyed this chapter.
> 
> If you have any suggestions or questions, feel free to comment. Again, if any of you want to make fanart, go for it, just no vore, please.


	3. Rescue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Long time no see. I'm sorry it's taken me this long to get this out. I got a full-time job now and it's hard to find time to write between that. I still plan to finish this story. I'm trying to get the chapters to be shorter so I can get them to you guys sooner. I'm just glad that I got this chapter done before the end of the year. Thank you for all of your patience with me. 
> 
> There is a slight mention of blood in this chapter, I'm marking the paragraph with Ӂ before and after if you want to avoid that
> 
> Enjoy!

            “Okay, any doubts on whether the Galra knew we were coming are gone.  Why did they have to know we were coming?” Hunk said as the team ducked behind some containers while the sentries shot at them.

            “Hunk, we talked about this in the briefing,” Pidge said.  “They probably realized just what was in the data we got last time.  Because we’re acting so quickly, they weren’t able to transfer Shiro to another base, so it would make sense for them to amp up security.”

            “That means the data is right,” Lance commented as he shot at the sentries before ducking back down.  “Who else would they be guarding this much besides Shiro?”

            “Of course it’s right.  Are you doubting my computer skills, Lance?” Pidge glared out of the corner of her eyes at Lance.

            “NO!” Lance exclaimed.  “I know better than to ever do that again.”

            “Good.”

            “We’ve got to get past these guards to get to Shiro.  What’s the plan, Keith?” Allura asked.

            “We punch our way through.  We don’t need to beat them all to get to Shiro.  Coran and the Lions are keeping the fighter jets busy.  While they’re doing that, Lance and Hunk, you guys can draw their fire and cover me, Pidge, and Allura while we make our way through.”

            The rest of the group murmured in agreement with the plan.  Hunk and Lance looked to see where they might be able to get the best angle with their weapons.

            “Up there.” Hunk pointed to one of the structures behind them.  “Think that would work for a bird’s eye view?”

            “Hunk, you’re a genius.” Lance and Hunk ran over to the structure while the rest of the team distracted the sentries.  Once they made their way up, Lance let out a breath as he got one of the robots in his scope.  “Ready for this?”

            “Let's do it.”   

“It’s razzle-dazzle time.  ( _pause_ ) HEY RO-BUTTS!”

            The sentries turned to look up before the first of them started falling at the hands of Hunk and Lance.

            “Alright team, let's move,”  Keith yelled as Allura, Pidge, and he burst out from behind the containers.  With Lance and Hunk distracting the sentries, it was easier for the members with close-ranged weapons to make their way through the crowd to the locked door that no doubt Shiro was behind.  Keith and Allura turned their shields towards the sentries as they took a protective stance around Pidge while she worked on hacking the door.

            “Think you can get through?”  Allura asked.

            “Long as I can borrow Keith’s hand for the scanner,” Pidge said as she grabbed Keith’s hand and placed it on the scanner.  “Thank you.”

            “Might want to hurry up.  We can’t keep this up forever.”  Keith commented.

            “Give me a minute.  Whoever set up this system is almost as smart as me.  ( _Pause_ ) Almost.” Pidge smirked.

            “You can be smug later.  We’ve got a leader to save.” Keith reminded the team.

            “Just a few more seconds, and…we’re in!” Pidge exclaimed as the three of them rushed in, quickly closing the door behind them, cutting off the noise from outside the room.

            The smell was the first thing that hit them.  The stench of something rotten in the air.  It took their eyes a few seconds to adjust to the dark.  Once they had, they could hardly believe what they saw. 

            There, hanging limply from the wall was a person.  This person was obviously malnourished due to their ribs being easy to make out.  Not only that, but they were covered in blood, most of it dry, but some looked like it was fresh.  Could this shadow of a person actually be Shiro?  One clue was that this person had a prosthetic right arm that had been powered down for quite some time, due to the rust that had accumulated in the joints. 

            “Shiro?” Allura hesitated for a moment before moving closer to the person.  “Is that you?”

            “Ughh.” The person groaned weakly as he opened his eyes.  “Allura?”

            “Yes.  It’s me.  We’re here to get you out.  Do you think you can stand once we get you out of these chains?” She nodded at Pidge and Keith to start cutting Shiro free from the chains.

            “I…I don’t know.” Shiro croaked out.  “How long has it been?”

            “Don’t worry about that now.  We’re going to get you out and to a healing pod.” Keith said as he cut Shiro’s left arm free.  It hung limply at Shiro’s side.  Shiro grimaced as all of his weight was now hanging from his other arm

            “Hold on Shiro,” Pidge said as she finished cutting through the chain holding Shiro’s right arm.  He collapsed on his feet, but Allura caught him before he could hit the floor.

            “Sorry, Allura.”

            “No need to apologize.  You’ve been through so much.  Allow us to help you.”  Allura grabbed Shiro’s arm and put it around her shoulder as they began to make their way out.

            As they exited the room, one remaining sentry started charging at them, but before they or it could attack, it was shot through the head from behind and fell in the pile of the others that had fallen before.

            “Yeah!  I got him!  Did you guys see that?” Lance exclaimed as he and Hunk climbed down from their perch.

            “Less gloating, more getting the heck out of here before something bad happens.”  Hunk and Lance ran over to meet the others.

            “I’m afraid it’s too late for that, paladins.”

            “Lotor,” Keith growled out.

            “My my.  Such viciousness.  Is that any way to treat someone?”

            “He’s treating you with all the respect you deserve,”  Allura answered.

            “And here I thought that Voltron was above pettiness.”

            “When it comes to you, we make an exception.” Pidge snarked with a glare on her face.

            “How thoughtful of you.  Now, I’m going to give you one chance to leave here unscathed.  If you leave the experiment here, you have my word that no harm shall befall any of you as you leave.”

            “Like hell we’re going to trust anything coming out of your mouth,” Pidge yelled.

            “Yeah!  And Shiro’s not an experiment!” Lance exclaimed.

            “Are you sure about that?  We tested his endurance and strength in the arena.  We gave him the latest prototype for his arm.  Everything that he has achieved thanks to us has been closely monitored and recorded.  Sounds like an experiment to me.”

            “No.” Allura determinedly stated.  “He is the leader of Voltron.”

            “He has been with us far longer than with you.  And my mother did devote so much time to this experiment.  It would be a shame for it to go to waste.”

            “Your mother?  But I thought it was Haggar that took Shiro.” Hunk questioned.

            “Precisely.” A wicked grin spread on Lotor’s face.

            “Wait, then that means Zarkon and Haggar…aw gross!” Lance scrunched up his face in disgust.

            “Not the time, Lance.” Keith

            “Yeah, I think never is the right time for that.” Hunk

            “I’ll say it once more.  Leave the experiment here and no harm shall befall you.”

            “He’s our leader.  And we’re taking him with us.” Keith stated.

            “I hope you understand I can’t let you leave with him.” Lotor pulled out his sword.

            “And hopefully you understand that you can’t stop us.” Allura gently lowered Shiro to the ground so he could lean against the containers and grabbed her Bayard.

            “We have you outnumbered,” Pidge stated as everyone else grabbed their bayards and formed a protective circle around Shiro.

            “Oh don’t worry.  I came prepared.” And with that, Lotor’s four generals stepped into view.

            “Hi everyone!  Remember us?” Ezor waved at the paladins before she jumped down in front of them with the grace of a trained gymnast alongside the rest of her teammates.

            “Can’t we have one mission where there’s no surprises?  One mission.  That’s all I’m asking for.”

            “Come on Hunk, where’s the fun in that?” Lance as he and the rest of the team aimed their bayards at Lotor and his generals, waiting to see who would make the first move.

            They didn’t have to wait long.  “I’ve been looking forward to this for a while.” Zethrid charged at Allura, who was pushed back from the impact but held her ground.

            Everyone else quickly paired off in the fight.  Pidge was struggling against Axha’s swords while Hunk was avoiding Narti’s tail.

            “Can’t we just talk this out, creepy silent…oh, right, sorry.”

            “Hunk!  Don’t apologize to the enemy!” Pidge was able to land a hit on Axha.

            “I’m sorry, I can’t help it.  My mom taught me to always be polite, even if people don’t deserve it.”

            Lance was struggling to get a shot at Ezor, but she had turned herself invisible and he could only see her through the thermal imaging in the scope of his gun.  As soon as she was in his sights, she would leap somewhere else.

            “Stay still so I can shoot you!”

            “Aww, but this is so much more fun!” Ezor exclaimed as she turned herself visible and once more landed a jab on Lance before turning invisible once more.

            Keith and Lotor were locked in a fight as well.  “It seems you’ve learned from our last encounter.  The Galra genes are not completely wasted on you, though it is a shame that they didn’t manifest as more than the ears.  We could help train you to use them.  You would be a wonderful addition to our cause.”

            “I would never join with the likes of you.”

            “A pity.”  Lotor began forcing Keith back towards where Shiro lay against the containers.

            “We can’t let them get Shiro!” Keith pushed back against Lotor.

            “Don’t worry,” Allura said as she tossed Zethrid halfway across the room.  “We won’t even let them get close.”

            The rest of the team chorused their agreement as they continued the fight. 

            Lance realized that he was getting nowhere trying to shoot Ezor.  It took too long for him to see where she was through the scope, so maybe it would be better to wait for her to get close and then hit her with the gun.

            “Got you agai-ooof!” She fell to the ground unconscious, but it was not a gun that hit her, but the flat of a sword.  Lance’s Bayard had transformed into a sword.

            Before he could stare too long in shock and awe at the sword in his hands, Lance saw that Lotor used a burst of magic to throw Keith near him.  _‘Of course, the evil prince also has magic.  Like mother like son.’_   Keith slowly stood up and was shaking his head, all while his back was facing Lotor, who seemed to be preparing to cast another spell.

            “I believe it’s high time someone cut you down to size,” Lotor said as he gathered the quintessence for his next spell and shot it towards Keith.

            Without even thinking, Lance dropped his Bayard and ran towards “Keith!” and pushed him out of the way.  He cried out as the spell hit him and he collapsed on the ground.

            “Lance!” Keith ran over as Lotor looked on, pleased that his plan had been executed perfectly.

**Ӂ**

            Lance’s face was scrunched up in pain as Keith knelt beside him.  Keith carefully rolled Lance onto his back in his arms, being mindful of his cuts and bruises.  A small amount of blood was dripping between Lance’s hands on his stomach.

**Ӂ**

_‘That bastard!’_ Keith glared at Lotor and began to growl.  He started to get up to confront him, but Lance started coughing in his arms.

            “Ugggh.” Lance groaned out.  “I don’t feel so good.”

            “You don’t look so good either.  What were you thinking?!”

            “You didn’t see it.  He would’ve hit you.”

            In the background, the others kept fighting on.

            “Look, we’re having another bonding moment.” Lance snickered a bit before wincing at the pain in his guts.

            “Really, Lance?  That’s what you’re thinking about now?”  Keith blinked away a tear, “You’re such an idiot,” he said endearingly.

            “heh, ‘m y’r idiot.” Lance smiled as his skin started looking paler and his eyes started closing.

            “Hey!” Keith softly smacked Lance’s face, “Stay awake.”

            “’m try’n”

            The others saw what had happened.  Allura unleashed a spell of her own at Lotor, managing to knock him down.  The spell was stronger than she intended it to be and the floor began to crack under them, pieces falling into the canyon below.

            Luckily for them, they saw their lions flying towards them, with red in the lead.

            “You take yours and we’ll take ours,” Axha said as she wrapped Lotor’s arm around her shoulders and started to back away.  Narti also retreated while Zethrid grabbed Ezor and bridal carried her towards Lotor’s ship.

            “Yeah, you better run!” Pidge taunted them.

            Lotor lifted up his head with a cruel smile on it. “This isn’t over, paladins.  It’s an awfully big universe out there.  And it’s about to get a lot bigger, as he will soon discover.”  With that, Lotor’s group disappeared into their ship and flew off.

            “Should we go after them?” Hunk asked.

            “No.  We’re down two members right now, so we wouldn’t be able to form Voltron.  We’re too vulnerable right now.” Keith grabbed Lance and his Bayard and moved towards Red while the other lions approached. 

            “Keith, you should take Shiro and Lance in Red.  She’ll be able to get them to the castle-ship the fastest and she should still work for you since you were her paladin before.” Allura grabbed Shiro and started carrying him over to Red as the ground continued to crack from her earlier spell.

            “Coran, we’re going to need two healing pods.” Hunk said through the comms as he got in Yellow.

            “No problem, number two.  Did you find Shiro?”

            “Yeah, we did, but Lance got hit in the cross-fire,” Pidge answered from Green’s cockpit.

            “Oh dear.  Don’t you worry, we’ll have them both right as reigns in no time.  I’ll get the pods ready.”

            Red raced towards the castleship as soon as Shiro and Lance were safely onboard.

            “Thank you, Coran.”  Allura ran towards Blue, but the ground fell out from under her.  She quickly used her jetpack to hop towards Blue, who grabbed her effortlessly.  “Thank you as well, Blue.”

            Blue and the rest of the lions flew after Red towards the castleship with everyone hoping their friends would be alright.

* * *

Meanwhile…

            “Everything is falling into place.  I believe we can call today a victory.” Lotor declared.

            “I can’t believe they actually thought I was unconscious,”  Ezor smirked.

            “He didn’t hurt you did he?” Zethrid showed a rare soft side of herself.

            “Nope.” Ezor emphasized the p, “It takes more than a bump on the head to knock me down.”

            “Good.  Cause if he had, I would have torn him apart until there wasn’t anything left to bury.”

            “I love it when you talk like that.” Ezor leapt up and wrapped her arms around Zethrid’s neck and kissed her.  Zethrid wrapped her arms around Narti and deepened the kiss before Kova jumped onto her shoulder and *meowed* right in their faces.  They broke off the kiss and Ezor pouted at Kova–“Narti, you’re no fun”–before leaning up and quickly kissing Zethrid once more.

            “If the two of you are done, we need to plan our next move,” Axha said.  “It shouldn’t be too much longer until the effects of the spell kick in.”

            “How did you know that he would jump in front of his teammate like that?  If he hadn’t, then the wrong person would have been hit.” Ezor asked.

            “He’s the type to take a hit for his team,” Lotor stated, “And the spell wouldn’t have affected anyone with Galra blood, so if it had missed, it wouldn’t matter.”

            “And now their team is going to be thinking that the black paladin was the intended target.” Zethrid realized.

            “Precisely.  They’ll be wondering why he was the supposed intended target when they really should be worrying about the red paladin.”

            “Should we keep following them?” Ezor asked.

            “Yes.  We need to make sure they fall for the decoy.  It wouldn’t make sense to plant a tracker and not follow the signal, correct?” Lotor smirked at his crew.

* * *

Later…

            “Ughhh,” Lance said as he blinked open his eyes.  He saw a group of blurry figures through the pod.  There was a whoosh and the door to the healing pod disappeared, causing him to fall forward into someone’s arms.  He saw the red colored jacket and realized who had caught him.  “Nice catch, Mullet.”

            “Really Lance?” Keith said, annoyed at Lance continuing to use that nickname.  “I could just drop you, you know.”

            “Nah, I’m good,” Lance said as Keith helped him stand on his own.  “How long was I in there?”

            “half a day,” Pidge answered.

            “That long?  How come I still feel sore?  Aren’t these things supposed to fix everything?”

            “Well, they are more designed to help with life-threatening conditions.  If you just have a paper cut, the healing pod would be a bit much.  It’s possible that your soreness is an after effect from being in there so long.” Coran suggested.

            “I didn’t feel this sore the last time I was in a pod.  My head hurts and it feels like something’s squeezing me all over.” Lance said as he brought a hand up to his head.  “I think I need to sit down.”

            Keith helped Lance over to one of the beds so he could sit down.

            “Well, you were hit by Lotor’s spell.”  Pidge reminded him.

            “If his magic is anything like his mother’s, this feeling could be a residual effect from it,” Allura commented.

            “Maybe a kiss from a beautiful princess would make me feel better.”

            “If you can say that, then I believe you’ll be alright.  I can still see if we have any pain-killers for you.” Allura said as she started looking through the cabinets in the med bay.

            “I still can’t believe the space witch is Lotor’s mom.  Ugggh.” Lance shuddered. “I don’t even want to imagine how that happened.”

            “Oh no no no no no, you are _not_ putting that image in my head, Lance.” Hunk said.

            “Sorry big guy.” Lance sheepishly responded.  “Hey, what’s that smell?”

            “Oh, I tried to make those pastelitos that your mom sent that one time.  I know they’re your favorite.  I’m hoping these are a good substitute.”

            “Dude!  I love pastelitos de guayaba y queso!  And if you’re the one that made them, they have to be good.” Lance said as he grabbed one of the puff pastries from the plate Hunk was holding.  He took a bite and the sweetness exploded in his mouth.  He almost felt like he was back home in Varadero.  “These are amazing!  They taste just like my mom’s.”

            “Really?  Thanks.  I wasn’t sure if the ronthelgrap would be a good substitute for the guava.” Hunk sheepishly said.

            “It works.  Trust me.” Lance responded.  “You guys have got to try these.  Hunk’s outdone himself and I can’t eat these all by myself.”

            “Make sure to save some for Shiro,” Pidge said as she grabbed one.

            “I can always make more when he’s out of the healing pod.  They’re better fresh anyway.”

            “How much longer is he going to be in there?” Keith asked.

            “About another quintant.  Give or take a few varga.”  Coran answered.

            “I found some pain-killers, Lance.  Though, these ones will make you feel drowsy pretty quickly.”  Allura said as she handed him some pills which he popped in his mouth.

            “How quickly we talk-(yawn)-ing here?” Lance said.

            “Almost instantaneously.  It might be a good idea for you to stay here overnight.  Just to make sure there aren’t any other residual effects.”  Allura replied.

            “No arguments here.” Lance yawned out.  “But if I’m sleeping and something happens, what then?”

            “We could have someone stay with you,”  Pidge suggested.

            “I’ll do it.” Keith volunteered. 

            “Aww, thanks, Keith.  Didn’t know you cared.” Lance said teasingly.

            “You took the hit for me, so I owe you one.”

            “I’m going to put the rest of these in the fridge for tomorrow.”  Hunk said as he grabbed the plate.  “Goodnight guys.”

            “Night, Hunk,”  Pidge said.  “I think I’m going to go to bed too.”

            “Pidge actually wanting to get some sleep?  Did I pass through into an alternate dimension?” Lance dramatically asked.

            “Ha ha, very funny.  See you tomorrow.”

            “Sleep sounds like an excellent idea.  I expect you all to be ready for training tomorrow.  Lance, if you still feel sore, you can come and observe.”

            “We’ll be there, Allura,” Keith responded.

            “If anything happens, don’t hesitate to let me know,” Coran said.

            “We’ll keep you posted, or I guess Keith will.” Lance yawned once more.

            “Goodnight paladins”

* * *

A few hours later…

            Lance had been sleeping soundly since everyone else left.  Keith would go between sitting and watching Lance to make sure he was ok and checking on Shiro in the healing pod.  Right now he was sitting next to Lance’s bed.  It was strange to see Lance so calm.  Usually, he was running around yelling in excitement about something.  Keith had never realized it was possible for Lance to look so peaceful.  The space mice had come in earlier to check on Lance, but they didn’t stay long since they had to go to Allura’s room.  Chulatt seemed to want to stay longer, but the others must have explained that they had to go.

            _‘It would be nice to be able to understand them.’_ Keith thought back on their visit.  He had felt awkward just sitting there.  He wasn’t the best with talking to people or charades, so it was harder for them to communicate with him.

            Keith figured it was time to check on Shiro once more.  He got up and walked over to the healing pods.  Shiro looked a lot better than when he had first been put in.  He almost looked ready to come out, but Coran had said that it would be a while still until he was completely healed.  He wished he knew how to read the Altean numbers so he could see how much longer it was until Shiro would come out. 

            “I’m sorry it took so long for us to find you,”  Keith whispered so he wouldn’t wake up Lance.  “If we had been able to find you sooner, they wouldn’t have done this.  I feel like I let you down. You’ve always been there for me, but I couldn’t be there for you.  What kind of brother does that make me?”  Keith brushed away a tear and took a moment to collect his thoughts.  “Once you’re out of there, Pidge can reactivate your arm.  Knowing her, she’s probably got an upgrade for you.”  Keith paused for a moment.  “I should probably go check on Lance again.  See you later.”

            Keith walked back over to the med bay area and was surprised at what he saw, or what he didn’t see.

            Lance’s bed was empty and Lance was nowhere to be seen in the room.  The sheets on the bed hardly looked like they were disturbed.

            _‘That’s weird.  I would have heard the door open if he had left.’_   Keith walked towards the bed, _‘The sheets look more like someone made the bed than someone left.’_   Keith’s face suddenly got an annoyed look on it.  _‘This is probably some stupid prank of his.  He must have been pretending to sleep before hiding somewhere to pop out and scare me.’_

            Keith then noticed a small lump moving under the sheets.  _‘Chulatt must have come back to check on Lance and gotten stuck under the covers.’_

            Keith grabbed the corner of the sheet and started pulling it back, “Come on, Chulatt.  You can help me find–” he dropped the sheet in shock at what he saw.  There, standing around 3 inches tall, was “–Lance?!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Where I'm having Lance say "'m y'r idiot" I might have Keith think that Lance was calling him an idiot. Lance may or may not remember. Or not claim to remember.
> 
> Sorry to leave it like this, but don't worry. You'll be getting Lance's perspective next. I know I promised tiny Lance and you'll get him. I just have to write it. I have a lot planned for our characters. Thanks for reading! Please leave a comment if you like.


	4. A 'small' problem

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance's perspective on things

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back! Happy to see so many of you guys are still liking my story. I'm trying to differentiate between Lance's normal and intrusive thoughts and I think I'm going to do his normal thoughts are just italicized, intrusive are italicized with those little half quotes things ( ' ' ) around it. I know you guys have been waiting for this so without further ado, chapter 4

Lance woke up slowly.  He was still a bit tired, but his body no longer felt like it was in pain.  It was a lot warmer than he would have liked it to be, though.  He could feel something heavy on top of him and when he opened his eyes, he didn’t recognize his surroundings.

_Where am I?  The last thing I remember is falling asleep in the med bay._ He looked down and saw that he was still in the healing pod outfit.  He struggled to lift the heavy thing from on top of him and tried to piece together where he was.

_Did someone put me in a collapsed tent or something?_ He thought as he stumbled on the uneven ground.  He noticed that the ground was softer than he would have thought and his feet seemed to sink in slightly.  There wasn’t much light shining through the tent, so he couldn’t make out many details.

_If I keep walking in one direction, I’ll reach the end.  Then I can figure out where I am._

He started walking and heard some muffled thumps that started to get louder before stopping somewhere in front of him.

_Wonder what that was?_

He then heard someone yelling “Come on, Chulatt.”  There was a slight tug on the tent above him, “You can help me find–” the light was blinding to Lance as the tent was ripped off of him, “–Lance?!”

Lance blinked as his eyes adjusted to the light.  Before he could fully take in his surroundings, he saw a giant hand reaching for him.  It grabbed him and lifted him up before he could get away.

“What the quiznak?” He heard the voice say as his stomach dropped and the wind rushed by him.

“Put me down, put me down, put me down!” Lance squeezed his eyes shut and tried to twist his way out of the grip.  

He felt his stomach lurch again as whatever had grabbed him quickly put him back on the ground and blurted out “Sorry!”

It took him a moment to regain his footing and get his breathing under control.  When he looked up, he saw Keith, but never as he would have pictured him.  He fell down in shock at the sight before him, bouncing slightly on the ground.

“Keith?!  What happened to you?  Why are you so big?”

“I’m not the one that’s big.  You’re the one that’s small.” Keith looked at Lance in disbelief.

“What are you talking about?  You’re so huge you wouldn’t even fit in the med bay.”

“We’re still in the med bay.”

“What?  No,” Lance stood up and looked around.  Behind him, he saw the tent, which he now realized looked more like thick blankets.  “No.”  The ground that was so soft had huge stitches and ridges in it giving away that it was a mattress.  “No!” he recognized the layout of the room and knew it truly was the med bay, but everything was out of proportion.  The walls were further away than they should have been, but it felt like they were closing in on him. 

_This has to be some sort of nightmare._ “I’m dreaming!  I’m dreaming!” Lance slapped his face to try to wake up, but the pain from it let him know this was no dream.  _This can’t be happening._

“Lance?” Keith hesitatingly moved his hand closer to Lance before jerking it back at his outburst.

“What did you do?!”

“I didn’t do anything!”

“Well, then what the quiznak happened?!”

“I-I don’t know.”

“What do you mean you don’t know?  Didn’t you see what happened?  You were supposed to make sure nothing happened to me!”  Lance lashed out at Keith.

“I was checking on Shiro!” Keith retorted.

“Oh yeah, cause Shiro definitely needs someone to check on him since he’s in the upgraded healing pod.  Meanwhile, I’m suddenly three inches tall and the guy who was supposed to prevent anything else from happening to me is jerking me around like a rag doll!”

“Shut up!” Keith’s eyes flashed yellow, causing Lance to flinch back and fall down.  “You have no idea what he means to me!  He’s the only person who never gave up on me!” Keith didn’t realize that he had started to lean intimidatingly over Lance.  “He could have died!  He could have died, and there would have been nothing I could do about it.”  Keith looked down and saw that Lance was looking up at him in fear.  “Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Your eyes…they turned yellow for a second.”

“What?”

“When you got mad, they flashed yellow.  Has that happened before?”

“No.”  Keith took a step back.

“Could it be more Galra traits showing up?”

“Probably, but I’d have to ask Coran to be sure.  We should tell him and the others what happened to you anyways.”  Keith started moving towards the castleship-wide comms before Lance cried out

“Wait!” Lance quickly stood up, “Maybe this is something that the healing pods can fix.  I don’t want to make everyone worry for nothing.”

“What if it’s not?  They should know what’s going on.”

“Please, if it’s just a simple fix, I don’t want to bother them.”

“Fine.  But I’m still going to tell Coran.  If this happened to you because of the pain medicine, he should know so it doesn’t happen again.”

“Okay.  That’s fine.”

Keith went to the comms to get Coran, but then he remembered, “Shoot, that’s right.  Coran was going to upgrade the individual comm channels tonight.  We’ll have to go and get him.”

“We?  I’m not going out there.”

“Why not?”

“I don’t want anyone to see me like this!” Lance gestured to himself.  _It’s bad enough you’re seeing me like this._

“Seriously, Lance?”

“Look, can’t we just see if the healing pod works?  If it does, you don’t even have to tell Coran.”

“Uggh.  Fine.”  Keith started reaching for Lance, who backed away from his hand.

“Whoa!  Don’t be all grabby-grabby!”

“How else are you going to get to the healing pod?”

“I can walk.”

“That’s going to take you all night.  I don’t want to wait that long.”

“And I don’t want to be suddenly grabbed by a hand the size of me.”

“Oh.” Keith paused.  “I guess I didn’t think about what that looked like from your perspective.”

“Oh yeah, cause the squeezing, shouting, and towering over me made it seem like you really had my best interests in mind.”

“Sorry.” Keith winced as his previous actions were brought up.

“(sigh) It’s fine.  And you’re right.  It would take a while to get over there, so you can carry me over.  Just…be gentle, ok?”  Lance didn’t want Keith to feel too bad about what had happened, so he figured that this would help smooth things over.

“Ok.”  Keith hesitatingly brought his hands closer to Lance and hovered them around him, unsure of how to go about grabbing him.

“Cálmate.  Just go slow.  All the arm flapping is not helping.”

“Sorry, this is weird for me.”

“Well, it’s weird for me too.  Just don’t grab me too quickly.”

Keith slowly moved his hand closer to grab Lance.

_It’s ok.  He’s not going to hurt you._   Lance couldn’t help but tense up when he felt Keith’s fingers wrap around him.  His stomach reeled once more as he was lifted up and Keith started walking towards the healing pods.  _Okay, this is weird._   He looked down and saw just how far away the ground was.  _Oh God, don’t drop me, don’t drop me!_  

Keith took his time walking over to the healing pods in an effort to make the trip less shaky for Lance.  It did help some, but it was still a slightly bumpy ride.  The most shaking happened when Keith kneeled down in front of the healing pod.  Lance felt a bit of puke in his throat from the sensation as Keith once more said “Sorry!” as he placed him in the healing pod.  The door whooshed closed and he felt the familiar tingling as he fell asleep.

Keith hadn’t even started to stand up before the healing pod dinged.  The door whooshed open and Lance fell forward into Keith’s hands, still 3 inches tall.

“Did it work?” Lance asked as he blinked open his eyes.

“No.” Keith cupped his hands and stood up, trying to keep his hands steady as he walked back over to the med bay area.

“Did it say what was wrong?”

“I don’t know.  It’s all in Altean.”

“Of course it is.”  Lance’s face fell.  “Could the pod be damaged?”

“How would I know?  Coran’s the only one that knows how these work.  We’re going to have to get him.”

“I already told you, I’m not leaving the room like this.”

“Well, I don’t want to leave you by yourself like this.”

“Well I’m staying here, and there’s nothing you can do about it.”

“You know I could just take you with me anyways, right?  You’re sitting in the palm of my hand.”

“(Dramatic gasp) You wouldn’t!  That’s kidnapping, Keith.  Help, help I’m being kidnapped by an emo!”

“I’m not an emo.”

“That’s exactly what an emo would say!”

“If you’re that worried about someone seeing you, I can put you in my jacket pocket.”

Lance was thinking about the offer when a healing pod dinged behind them.  They turned and saw that Shiro’s pod was starting to defrost.  Keith quickly put his hands down on the nearest bed and tilted Lance off of them before running over to the completely defrosted healing pod.

_A little warning would’ve been nice._  Lance stood up on the bed.  He was more worried about Shiro than falling on his face, though.  _Shiro was supposed to be in there until lunch.  Why is he coming out now?_

Shiro’s pod whooshed open and Keith caught him, staggering slightly.  It looked like the time in the pod had helped Shiro gain back some weight.  His ribs were no longer sticking out and the color had returned to his face.  He wasn’t quite back to the level of muscle he had prior to his abduction, but he looked much better than when they had found him.

“Shiro!  Are you ok?” Keith asked as he looked over Shiro for any remaining injuries.  It seemed that all of the cuts and bruises had faded away, with the exception of his signature scar across his nose.

“Ugh.  I think so.  I feel a bit tired but good.”  Keith helped Shiro stand up and started walking him towards the med bay when he asked, “Where’s everyone else?”

“They’re sleeping.  You weren’t supposed to come out of the pod for a couple more varga.”

“Wonder why I came out early.”  Shiro paused for a moment as a look of bewilderment came across his face, “Maybe I should go back in.”

“Why?”

“I’m pretty sure I’m hallucinating.  I see Lance over there, but he’s really tiny.”

“You’re…not hallucinating,” Keith responded as he brought Shiro to sit on the side of the bed Lance was on.  The mattress sank slightly from the added weight causing Lance to shake a bit, but he was able to keep his balance.

“What happened?” Shiro asked as he looked down at Lance.

“That’s what we’re trying to figure out,” Keith responded. 

“Did you try the healing pod?”

“Yep.  I wasn’t even in there for 5 seconds before it said I was done.”

“Does Coran know what’s wrong?”

“We were just about to go and get him when you came out,” Keith answered.

“You mean _you_ were going to go and get him.  I’m not leaving here until I’m back to normal.”

“Why don’t you just call him on the comms?”

“He’s upgrading the personal comms right now and Lance doesn’t want anyone else to know about…this,” Keith gestured to Lance, “so we can’t call him on the castleship wide comms either, meaning someone has to go and get him.  It feels like he’s always upgrading something when we could really use it.”

“Sounds pretty normal for Voltron,” Shiro smiled slightly, “minus you being…smaller.” He looked down apologetically at Lance.

“Yeah.  Hopefully, Coran knows how to fix this.” Lance said.

“He should.  Do you want to stay here with Shiro while I go get him?”

“Yeah.  Someone has to make sure Shiro doesn’t get into any trouble.” Lance responded.

“I think you’re the one more likely to find trouble, Lance,” Shiro replied.

“I’ll be back soon.” With that, Keith went to track down Coran.

“Are you ok?” Lance asked after a pause.

“I think I should be asking you that.”

“Answer the question.”

“I…don't know.  I feel fine, but I can’t quite remember what happened to me while I was…away.  Just pain, darkness, bright lights, and something with purple water.  They kept saying something about a project, but I can’t remember the name of it.  I think it started with a K or a C.”

“Pidge can probably find something about it in the data she got.”

“Maybe.” Shiro contemplated. 

“Are you sure you’re ok?” Lance said as he took a few steps towards Shiro before losing his balance where the mattress was sunken in.  He rolled down the incline with a yelp and wound up on his side against Shiro’s thigh.  _That’s one solid wall of muscle._ He let out a small groan.

“Lance!” Shiro started leaning to the side to better see him when Lance cried out

“Stop!”

Shiro froze and then felt the tiniest of sensations against his thigh.  It took most of his concentration to keep still as Lance squirmed out from between his thigh and the mattress.

Lance tried to climb back up the incline of the mattress, but it was too steep and he kept falling back.  He decided to instead climb Shiro’s thigh.

“Are you ok?” Shiro asked as Lance sat down on top of his thigh.

“Heh.  I always knew I’d get squeezed by someone’s thighs, I just thought it would be between them, not under them.”

“Lance.” Shiro accompanied this with his signature space-dad glare.

“Sorry.  I’m ok.  It’s just, when you started leaning over, your thigh started pushing me into the mattress.”

“I’m sorry I didn’t realize…”

“Like I said, I’m ok.  Well, besides being the size of the space mice.  I was feeling a lot worse when I first got out of the healing pod, but the pain’s gone now thanks to the medicine Allura found.”

“Could you shrinking be a reaction to that?”

“Maybe.  I hope it is, cause then it should just wear off when the medicine does, right?”

“I don’t know.  This is alien medicine.  We don’t know what all of the side effects for humans are.”

“Coran wouldn’t have let me have it if it would hurt me.  Besides, it could be some error with the healing pods too.  You popped out almost half a day before you were supposed to, and you had the upgraded pod.”

“Coran upgraded the pods?”

“He was only able to upgrade one of them before we rescued you.  That’s the one you were in.  Coran’s been upgrading a lot of the castle ships’ systems, with some help from Slav.”

“Slav’s here?” Lance could feel Shiro’s muscles tense underneath him.

“Oh, no.  He’s still at the Blade of Marmora HQ.  He just sends over blueprints and occasionally video chats, but we’re able to mute it.  He’s a genius, but he can be a bit annoying.” Shiro’s muscles relaxed once more.

“Heh.  Try infuriating.” Shiro chuckled, causing Lance to shake slightly.

“I got space-dad to laugh!”

“It’s been awhile since I’ve been called that.  How long was I gone for?”

“About 3 phoebs.”

“…3 phoebs…It felt like less time than that.”

“It took us a while to find you cause Lotor and his crew led us down a few false trails.  Keith wanted to jump right into every battle without any sort of plan.”

“That sounds like him.  How did he do as leader?”

“Don’t tell him I said this, but he’s a pretty good leader.  It took a little time and some trial and error.  We were all pretty affected by your abduction, but I think he took it the worst.  He pushed us all away a bit, but he’s opened up more since.”

“That’s good.”

The door to the room whooshed open and Coran and Keith came racing in.  Coran grabbed some sort of scanner from a drawer before going over to where Lance and Shiro were.

“Keith filled me in on the way here, though I must admit hearing that Lance was shrunk seemed like a stretch to me, but here you are.  Now tell me, are either of you in any pain?”

“No” Shiro and Lance chorused.

“Good.” Coran used the scanner on them.  “Hmmm.  This isn’t saying anything’s wrong.  Let’s try getting printouts from the healing pods.”  He went over and typed in something in Altean on the upgraded pod.  “Oh.  I see what happened with Shiro.  I forgot to upgrade the timer for the pod you were in.  It was still going with the time it would have taken in one of the non-upgraded pods.  That explains why you popped out early.”

“What about mine?” Lance asked.

“Let’s see.”  He punched in the same thing on Lance’s pod.  “It says that nothing’s wrong.”

“Well, obviously something’s wrong.  I’m 3 inches tall!”

“Would the upgraded one be able to tell us more?” Keith asked.

“Possibly.  Let’s try it.”

Keith once more slowly grabbed Lance and walked over to the upgraded healing pod.

_Is it weird that I’m starting to get used to this?_  Lance thought as he was placed in the pod.  The pod closed and he fell asleep.  Not even a second later, the pod opened.  Lance was still 3 inches tall.

“What does it say, Coran?” Lance asked while Keith picked him up once more in his cupped hands.

“It says the same thing.  Physically speaking, there’s nothing wrong with you.  You’re fir as a fiddler.”

“But that doesn’t make any sense.  I’m 3 inches tall!  That’s something physically wrong with me!”

“The pod is more designed to heal injuries, and you’re not technically injured, so it doesn’t believe there’s anything wrong with you.”

“It doesn’t even say anything about how this happened to me?”

“No.”

“Could it have been a reaction to the pain medicine you gave him?” Shiro asked.

“It couldn’t be.  I’ve given that same medicine to Lance and the others before and nothing like this has happened.  The scanner would have warned me about any adverse reactions.”

“Ok, so it wasn’t the medicine and it wasn’t the pods malfunctioning, so what was it?” Keith wondered aloud.

“Wait.  The spell that Lotor used.  He said something about ‘bringing down to size.’  You don’t think…” Lance recalled with dread.

“That would make sense,” Keith added on.  “He did mention that the universe was going to get bigger.”

“But why didn’t it work instantly?  Why did it only activate now?” Lance panicked.  _Why me?_

“He probably wanted to give us a false sense of security,” Shiro responded.

“The healing pod could have also held off the spell for a bit,” Coran mentioned.

“Well, how do we fix this?”

“That I do not know,” Coran responded.

“Is there a chance it’s temporary?” Lance asked.

“I’ve seen what the druids can do.  Their magic is anything but temporary.” Shiro answered.

“But Lotor is only half druid, right?  So maybe his magic works differently?” Lance hoped.

“Maybe.  Have any other spells he’s done been temporary?” Shiro wondered.

“We haven’t seen him do any other ones, so we don’t know for sure,” Keith responded.

“There may be some information in the library on half-druids.  I can see what I can find.” Coran mentioned.

“We should let the others know about this,” Shiro said.

“No!”

“Lance, this is a serious situation.  They need to know.”

“But there’s still a chance this could be temporary.  I don’t want to tell them and then have it just wear off an hour later.”

“Lance.”

“Shiro,” Keith interjected, feeling Lance flinch in his hands from Shiro’s stern tone.  “We should wait until morning.  That would give Coran some time to look into this. If anything else happens before or if it hasn’t worn off by then, we can let the others know.  Does that sound good?”

Coran and Shiro voiced their agreement.  Lance was quiet for a moment. 

“Lance?” Keith asked as he brought Lance up to face level.

“If I’m still like this tomorrow, I want to be the one to tell the others,” Lance responded quietly.

“Ok, we can do that.”

“I’ll go see what information I can dig up in the library.” Coran started heading towards the door.

“Let us know as soon as you find something,” Shiro called out.

“Will do!”

Shiro let out a roar of a yawn once the door closed.

“Space-dad roars to scare off predators from his young.” Lance laughed slightly.

“Oh come on.  I’m not that much older than you guys.” Shiro said with a smile on his face.

“You’re old enough to rent a car.” Keith pointed out.

“I’m too young to have kids.” Shiro dramatically flopped back on his bed.  “Why isn’t Coran space-dad?”

“Coran’s more like the crazy space-uncle.  Someone has to be the responsible one, and since you’re the oldest, that means it’s you.” Lance answered.

“(yawn) Just my luck.”

“You should get some sleep,” Keith recommended.  “Who knows how long we have till Voltron’s needed again?”

“What are we going to do if I’m still small then?” Lance asked from his spot in Keith’s hands.

“We’ll figure something out,” Keith responded.

“But…”

“Lance, you said it yourself.  This could be temporary.” Shiro cut him off.  “We just have to wait and see what the morning brings.”

“Ok,” Lance said defeatedly.

Keith walked back over to Lance’s bed and tilted his hands so he could climb off.  Lance didn’t realize how cold it was in the room until Keith moved his hands away.  _Guess we turn down the heat at night to save energy.  Smart._   He wrapped his arms around himself and walked over to the edge of the sheet closest to him.  He grabbed it and started pulling it towards the pillow.  It took most of his strength to move it a few inches.

“Do you need help?” Keith reached towards the sheet.

“No,” Lance grunted out.  “I’ve got it.”  The sheet moved another inch before he had to take a moment to catch his breath.  _Come on, Lance.  What kind…of paladin can’t even…pull up a quiznaking sheet?_  He continued pulling on the sheet, but it hardly moved at all.

“Are you sure?” Keith’s hand still hovered nearby.

Lance dropped the sheet and looked up at Keith.  “If you tuck me in, do I get a bedtime story?”

“No.”

“Then no deal.”  Lance grabbed the blanket and started pulling once more, but it refused to budge.

“Ok, fine.  I’ll tell you a bedtime story.”  Keith relented.

“Good.”  Lance walked over and climbed up onto the pillow.  _Have the pillows always been this cushiony?_   He tried not to think about how easily Keith was able to move the sheet.  “What’s the story?”  He asked as he got comfortable.

“Once upon a time, there was a boy who wouldn’t go to sleep.  Then he did.  The end.”

“Oh come on, Keith.  That’s not a story.”  Lance said.

“Yes, it is.  I said ‘Once upon a time’ and ‘The End’ so it’s a story.”

“I’m with Lance on this one,”  Shiro answered.  “It takes more than a beginning and an end to make a story.”

“Yeah!  Tell us a real one.”

“Fine.  Once upon a time, there was a…space…outlaw who…fell in love with…the space king’s…daughter.  And…they both agreed…they were meant to be together.  The princess decided to…run away with him, and…they planned to meet at…their favorite…meadow before they escaped.  But it was a trap.  The princess had lied, and the outlaw was…surrounded by…the king’s army of…warlocks.  Filled with anger from her betrayal, the magic that was meant to capture the outlaw instead…transformed him into a monster…and he escaped.  The end.”

“That can’t be the end!  There has to be more!” Lance couldn’t hide his interest in the story if he tried.

“You try coming up with a story on the spot!” Keith huffed as he sat down on one of the stools nearby.

“You two are still at each other’s throats even after all this time.” Shiro chuckled slightly.

“We’ve gotten better.” Lance incredulously said.

“It’s still nice to know some things haven’t changed.”  Shiro let out another yawn as he got under the covers.  He fell asleep almost as soon as his head hit the pillow.

_That’s good.  He deserves a good night sleep at least._

Lance turned on his side so he was facing away from Keith.  He could feel him staring at him.  He pulled the sheet up to his chin and closed his eyes and tried to ignore it.  Two minutes later, he could still feel Keith staring and was no closer to falling asleep.

_Ok, this is just getting annoying._

“You know if you take a picture it will last longer.”

“Sorry.”

“Don’t be sorry, just stop staring.  It’s kind of hard to fall asleep with a hundred-foot giant breathing down your neck.”

“Oh.” Keith tried to look away from Lance.

Another minute passed in silence.

“…You’re still staring.”

“It’s just…with you being so small, something bad could happen.”

“Well, you don’t need to worry.  The only thing that is going to happen to me tonight is me getting back to normal height when the spell wears off.” Lance retorted, even though doubt was starting to form in his mind.

“Well, I’m here if you need anything before that.”

“The only thing I need from you is for you to stop staring at me and let me sleep.”

_‘You know he’s only offering to help you because he feels sorry for you.’_

_Shut up._

_‘He’s clearly more worried about Shiro then you, otherwise, he would have seen what happened.’_

_I said shut up!_

Lance was glad that Keith couldn’t see his face as he tried to banish the negative thoughts.  He was also glad that he no longer felt Keith staring at him and he was finally able to drift off into sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> phoeb = month, Hope you guys liked this chapter. Sorry it kind of ends on a sad note. Also sorry I just used Puppycat's fairytale from Bee and Puppycat by Natasha Allegri. I couldn't help myself since I found out there's going to be another show with her characters: Lazy in Space. If you haven't checked out Bee and Puppycat, I would highly recommend it. I can relate a lot to Bee. Anyways, glad you liked it, hope to see you next chapter.


	5. Watch Your Step

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! Glad you're still reading my story. The time has come for the rest of the team to find out about what happened to Lance. What will their reactions be? Read on to find out!

Keith had stayed awake that entire night, keeping a watchful eye on both Lance and Shiro.  There had been no change in either of them while they slept, which was good for Shiro, less so for Lance.  It looked like whatever Lotor’s spell had done, it wasn’t going to go away on its own.  He was just thankful that it hadn’t shrunk Lance any smaller during the night.  His stomach growled, reminding him that it was getting close to breakfast time.  Given what Lance had said last night, Keith didn’t want to force him to go to breakfast with everyone else and have them see his new stature. 

_Lance and Shiro should be fine if I go grab some breakfast for us, right?_ Keith hesitated by the door.  _I could get Coran, but he’s looking for a cure for Lance.  I don’t want to interrupt that.  There haven’t been any changes all night.  Besides, the kitchen isn’t too far away.  They’ll probably still be sleeping when I get back.  What’s the worst that could happen?_

It was with this thought that Keith left for the kitchen.  He didn’t run into anyone else on the way.  Once he got there, he almost ran right into Hunk.

“Sorry, Hunk.”

“No worries.  You’re here earlier than usual.  You know breakfast isn’t for another half varga.”

“I’ve been sitting awake all night.  I needed a chance to stretch my legs.  Figured I’d grab an early breakfast for me and Lance.”

Keith went over to the cabinet and grabbed two plates, one for him and one for Shiro.  He would have grabbed a small plate for Lance, but he didn’t have an excuse for grabbing that that wouldn’t reveal what had happened to Lance. 

_Hopefully, Lance is ok with sharing._

He knew he couldn’t tell anyone what had happened until Lance was ready.  Keith also couldn’t tell them that Shiro woke up earlier than expected, because then everyone would rush to the med bay to see him and they would see what had happened to Lance. 

“How’s Lance doing?” Hunk asked.

_Oh, you know.  Lotor’s spell had a delayed effect that shrunk Lance to about 3 in. tall last night and we were hoping he would be back to normal height this morning, but nothing’s changed._

“The same.  He’s still sleeping.” 

“That’s good.  I’m just glad it’s nothing serious.”

“Yeah.”  He tried to hide the nervousness in his voice.  _Nothing serious._  “Why are you up so early?”

“I just wanted to check on the apsalmude beans.  They’re as close as I’m going to get to azuki beans for Shiro’s taiyaki.  They still to soak for about two more varga, but it should all be ready before he’s out of the healing pod.  Once Lance is awake he can help taste test, if he’s feeling up to it.”

“I’ll let him know.”

Keith loaded up the plates with food goo and put them on a tray.  He started walking towards the door when Hunk stopped him.

“Wait, Keith.” Hunk grabbed one of the pastelitos from the fridge and put it on the tray.  “This might help Lance feel better.”

“Does Lance really need that much sugar in the morning?”

“Whenever Lance wasn’t feeling good back at the garrison, I would make him something sweet.  It helped motivate him to get out of bed.”

“So, you bribed him.”

“Yeah … ok, so it was basically bribing him, but it worked.  If this doesn’t make him feel better, I don’t know what will.”

“I’ll make sure he gets it.  See you, Hunk.”

“See ya.”

* * *

The sound of the bed across the room creaking woke up Lance.

“Uggh.” He yawned and opened his eyes.  Looking around the room, Lance saw that nothing had changed from last night.  It was still shocking to wake up and have everything be ginormous compared to him.  He had hoped that last night was a nightmare or just part of some elaborate prank.  He didn’t have much time to dwell on this before he heard Shiro calling out across the room.

“No, no!  Please no!” Shiro was thrashing in his bed, getting himself tangled in his sheets, voice sounding more and more desperate.

_Oh no!  He’s having a nightmare!_   Lance looked around the room quickly.  _Where’s Keith?  Shiro needs help!  There’s no way I would be loud enough for him to hear over his yelling.  Maybe Keith just stepped outside for a minute.  But then, wouldn’t he be able to hear Shiro?  Maybe it’s too quiet for him to hear.  Maybe I could…no.  I don’t want anyone else to see me like this.  But Shiro needs help.  Quiznak it.  First things first.  How the heck do I get down from here without dying?_

Lance looked down off the side of the bed and quickly backpedaled once he saw how long of a fall it was.  What normally was a few feet now felt like standing at the edge of a canyon.

_Jumping is definitely off the table.  No way I’d survive that.  How do the space mice do this?  Oh, wait that’s right.  They slide down the sheets.  I can do that, right?  How hard can it be?_

He grabbed onto the sheets that were hanging down to the ground and started his descent.  He stumbled a bit once he made it to the floor, but he was still in one piece.

_Ok.  That wasn’t so bad._  He started towards the door, noticing how different his perspective was from the floor.  _Everything looks even bigger from down here._ Lance saw a dust bunny under the cabinet by the door that was almost the size of him.  _We really need to do a better job cleaning._

Shiro’s cries grew louder, reminding Lance of what he had set out to do.

Standing in front of the door, Lance waited for it to open, but nothing happened.  He tried waving his arms around to get the motion sensor to pick up on him, but the door remained closed.  _Am I too small for the door to recognize?  But I need to get someone to help Shiro._   He started banging on the door as hard as he could.  “HEY!  KEITH!  IF YOU’RE OUT THERE, SHIRO NEEDS HELP!  PLEASE, SOMEONE!’  Silence was all that greeted him from the other side of the door.

_Why can’t I do anything to help?  I’m too small to open the door, I don’t have a way of contacting anyone, and there’s nobody here who can help._   Lance stopped banging on the door.  _And on the off chance that someone is walking by, I doubt they could hear me._  A few tears of frustration slipped out.  _Why do I have to be so useless?_   He wiped away the tears and glanced back at where Shiro was still struggling.  _Maybe there is something I can do._   He started making his way towards Shiro.

The door opened.

* * *

 Keith heard Shiro’s cries as the door opened. 

“Shiro!”

He quickly put the tray of food on the cabinet and rushed over to him.  Keith tried to shake Shiro awake, but it didn’t work.  It only seemed to make whatever was going on in Shiro’s head worse. 

_This isn’t just a nightmare, is it?  I don’t think I can wake him up from this._   As he was thinking, Shiro continued thrashing and hit his left hand on the metal table next to him, giving him a small cut.  _Quiznak.  I have to make sure he doesn’t hurt himself like this._  Keith rolled the table out of range of Shiro.  He started moving all the other potentially harmful things away as well. 

Once that was done, he grabbed Shiro’s hand to keep him from getting hurt any more.  He started rubbing circles on the back of his palm to try to calm him down.  “Shiro, it’s me.  Keith.  You’re safe.  We’re on the castleship right now.  It’s ok.”

Soon enough, Shiro’s movement began to slow down.  He slipped back into a peaceful sleep as if nothing had happened and he hadn’t just been screaming in terror a minute ago.

_Hopefully that didn’t wake up Lance._ Keith looked over to the bed where Lance had been sleeping.  _Where’s Lance?_

Keith went over to Lance’s bed and didn’t see him anywhere.  “Lance?” 

_Maybe the screams were too loud for him to handle, so he hid under the blanket?_   He pulled back the sheets but still did not find him.  _Did the spell shrink him even more?!_

“Lance?!” Worry showed in his voice as he looked all over the bed, hoping that that wasn’t the case.  Who knew what could happen to him if it was?  There was still no sign of Lance, and he was afraid to move any of the blankets for fear of possibly hurting him if he was there.  He was starting to panic.  If it weren’t for his heightened hearing, he wouldn’t have heard Lance, barely louder than a whisper.

“h-h-here.”

Keith was surprised to hear Lance’s voice coming from behind him rather than in front of him.  He turned around and tried to figure out where Lance was.  He eventually spotted him sitting on the floor in front of the door.  He let out a sigh of relief when he saw that Lance hadn’t gotten any smaller.

“You had me worried for a sec.  I thought that the spell had reactivated.” He started walking over to Lance.  Lance looked up at him and quickly looked away, but not before Keith saw the fear in his eyes.  “Are you ok?”

Lance nodded while still not looking at him. 

Keith kneeled down in front of him, noticing Lance flinch at the action. 

_He wasn’t quite this shaken up last night.  What happened?_   Keith glanced back at the bed.  _That’s a pretty good distance for him to go at that height.  Why didn’t he just stay in bed?_

“Why are you over here?”

“The door wouldn’t open.”  Lance’s voice was still much quieter than usual.

“Why were you trying to open the door?”

“Shiro needed help and you weren’t here.”

“Sorry.  I was getting breakfast.  I thought both of you would still be asleep when I got back.”  He sheepishly moved some of his hair out of his face and looked away from Lance. 

_Wait.  If Lance was trying to get the door open, he would have been standing right in front of it._

“Were you here when I got back?”

“Yeah.”

_Oh, God.  I didn’t even think about looking down. What if I had…_

“Did I…”

“You didn’t hurt me, if that’s what you’re wondering.  Just freaked me out a bit.” Keith could tell that Lance was trying to hide the shakiness in his voice as he stood and looked up at him with a smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes.

“I am so sorry.  I didn’t even think to look for you.  Are you sure you’re ok?” Keith reached down to comfort Lance but pulled his hand back when Lance flinched again.

 “I’m fine.  I got to see my life flash before my eyes, but hey, that’s just another day for team Voltron.”

“Please don’t joke about this.  I could have…”

“But you didn’t,” Lance interjected.  “Look, can we just stop talking about it?  It was a close call, but I’m ok.  Just drop it.”

“We’re going to have to tell the others.”

“Can’t we just say we all need to be more careful?  I don’t want to make them worry.”

“I think they’re going to worry either way,” Keith noticed Lance’s face fell when he said that, “but we can leave that out so they’ll worry less.  Just…don't go on the floor without someone knowing you’re there.”

“Thank you.”

“We’re still going to have to show them what the spell did.”

“Yeah, I know.  Can it wait a bit?  I’m not ready to face them like this.” Lance gestured to himself to emphasize his current height.

“I gave Hunk an excuse for us not being at breakfast, but they might want to come and check up on you and Shiro after.  That gives us some time to figure out how to tell them and get some breakfast ourselves.”  Keith put his hand palm up flat on the ground next to Lance.  “Do you need help getting back up?”

Lance paused a moment before responding, “Yeah.”

Keith jerked his hand a bit when Lance put his hands on it to climb on.

“Hey!”

“Sorry, it just feels weird.”

“You’re telling me.  How do you think I feel?”

“Sorry,” Keith apologetically said.

_That’s a good point.  What does this all look like from his perspective?_  Keith thought as Lance climbed into his hand.  

* * *

The door opened.

_Finally!_ Lance thought as he turned around.  He then saw that the door hadn’t opened for him, but for Keith.  Lance tried to tell Keith what was going on, but the sound died in his throat seeing just how much Keith towered over him like this.  _Ok, now **that’s** an intimidating angle._   Seeing Keith only served to remind Lance of just how small he had become.  It felt like looking up at a skyscraper.

Shiro cried out again and Keith put the tray he was carrying on a cabinet and ran over to him, barely missing Lance on the floor.  The impact and vibrations from that knocked Lance down on his butt.

_Oh my God.  He almost squashed me.  And he didn’t even notice._   Lance was frozen in shock, looking at where Keith had almost stepped on him.  _If I had waited one more second to move away from the door, I wouldn’t be here anymore.  I almost died, and he didn’t even notice._

Lance’s chest began hurting as his heart beat faster.  He couldn’t think of anything else in that moment except what had almost happened to him.  He struggled to get his breathing under control.  He was vaguely aware of Keith walking across the room, the sound of his footsteps only adding to Lance’s panic.  Lance was working on slowing down his breathing when he heard Keith say “Lance?”  He tried to get the words out, but they were still stuck, almost as if he was choking on them.  It wasn’t until Keith called out a second time “Lance?!” that he was able to respond.

“H-h-here,” was all Lance was able to get out in that moment.  He heard Keith sigh in relief.

“You had me worried for a sec.  I thought that the spell had reactivated.”  Keith’s footsteps grew louder as he got closer.  Lance looked up and quickly looked away.  He still couldn’t get over just how intimidating Keith looked from this angle.  It was even more intimidating because Keith was looking right at him.  Keith must have seen the fear flash in his eyes because he asked: “Are you ok?”

It was still a struggle getting the words out, so Lance just nodded his head.  He flinched when Keith kneeled down in front of him, the impact shaking him.  Keith looked away while Lance continued trying to not panic. 

_He’s your friend.  He would never hurt you intentionally.  You’re ok._

Keith looked back down at him and asked him more questions.  Lance was able to answer them while working on calming himself down.  It wasn’t until Keith asked if Lance had been standing there when he got back that he was able to figure out what had almost happened.

“Did I…”

“You didn’t hurt me, if that’s what you’re wondering.  Just freaked me out a bit.” Lance quickly responded, not wanting Keith to be too worried about what had almost happened.  He smiled in an attempt to hide the shakiness in his voice as he stood up and looked up at Keith.

“I am so sorry.  I didn’t even think to look for you.  Are you sure you’re ok?” Lance flinched when Keith started reaching for him.  He was glad that Keith then moved his hand back.  Seeing a hand the size of you reaching to grab you is more than a bit nerve-racking.

“I’m fine.” Lance tried to make light of the situation, “I got to see my life flash before my eyes, but hey, that’s just another day for team Voltron.”

“Please don’t joke about this.  I could have…”

“But you didn’t.  Look, can we just stop talking about this?  It was a close call, but I’m ok.  Just drop it.”

“We’re going to have to tell the others.”

“Can’t we just say we all need to be more careful?  I don’t want to make them worry.”  This was part of the reason he wanted to not mention it.  The other reason was that he just wanted to stop thinking about what had almost happened to him.

“I think they’re going to worry either way.” Lance’s face fell at Keith’s comment.  “But we can leave that out so they’ll worry less.  Just…don't go on the floor without someone knowing you’re there.”

“Thank you.”

“We’re still going to have to show them what the spell did.”

“Yeah, I know.”  _Not looking forward to that._   “Can it wait a bit?  I’m not ready to face them like this.” Lance gestured to himself to emphasize his current height.

“I gave Hunk an excuse for us not being at breakfast, but they might want to come and check up on you and Shiro after.  That gives us some time to figure out how to tell them and get some breakfast ourselves.”  Keith put his hand palm up flat on the ground next to Lance.  “Do you need help getting back up?”

Lance looked up at the cabinet that the food was on.  _I don’t think I could climb that if I tried.  But do I really want to be carried like some doll?  I don’t think I have much of a choice._

“Yeah.”

He started climbing onto Keith’s hand when Keith suddenly jerked it

“Hey!” Lance said as he almost fell over again.

“Sorry, it just feels weird.”

“You’re telling me.  How do you think I feel?”

“Sorry.” Keith sheepishly said.

Lance climbed onto Keith’s hand, this time without being jostled around.  It felt strange to be sitting in someone’s palm.  Even through the leather of Keith’s fingerless gloves, Lance could feel the warmth of his hands and the pulsing of his veins.  He could see the texture of the gloves under him.  There were a few places where the leather had cracked and worn away slightly, no doubt because Keith never seemed to take them off. 

_Maybe there are some kind of cool things about this._

Lance was feeling one of the cracks in the leather when he was suddenly knocked down due to Keith’s hand tilting slightly as he started to get up.  The air rushed past Lance as he managed to grab onto his thumb before Keith fully stood up.

“Whoa!  A little slower on the lifting, please.  I do **_not_** like feeling like I’m in a wind tunnel.”

“I’ll try to be more careful.”  Keith put his other hand under the one that was holding Lance to help stabilize it.  It did help, but there were still slight tremors from his footsteps as he carefully walked over to the cabinet the food was on. 

_This must be how the space mice feel._

Lance kept a tight grip on Keith’s thumb until he put his hands down on the cabinet.  He let go and climbed off Keith’s hands.  He looked up at the mountain of food goo on the plates as Keith sat on one of the stools.

“That’s a lot of food.”

“Yeah, I wasn’t able to get you a smaller plate because Hunk was in the kitchen, but I got one of those pastelito things.”  Keith moved the pastelito in front of Lance.  “Hunk said it might make you feel better.”

 “It’s bigger than I am!”

“I’m pretty sure a lot of things are bigger than you now.”

“Yeah, but this is one thing that’s bigger than me that I’m ok with.”  Lance sat down and began tearing pieces of the pastelito off and stuffing his face with them.  It was a bit messy, due to him having to use the torn pieces of the crust to scoop up the filling and make a mini pastelito.  “You didn’t tell Hunk what happened to me, did you?”

“No.  We all agreed you would be the one to tell everyone last night.  Did you think I forgot?”  Keith started to eat his food goo.

“No, I just…”

Across the room, Shiro began stirring, distracting Keith from the conversation. 

_Phew.  Saved by the space dad._

With a loud groan, Shiro sat up and stretched his arm over his head.  His prosthetic hung limply at his side.

“Good morning, Shiro.”

“Morning.”  Shiro looked across the room.  “Is Lance…?”

“Still tiny?  Yep.” Lance waved over at Shiro.  “How are you?”

“Better, but my hand hurts a lot for some reason.”

“You did hit the cabinet pretty hard.”  Keith pointed out.

“Yeah, that must have been some nightmare you were having,” Lance added.

“Nightmare?” Shiro questioned.

“You were tossing and turning and screaming like crazy.”

“I don’t remember having a nightmare.”  Shiro walked over to the others.

“I tried to wake you up from it, but it didn’t work,”  Keith mentioned.  “Are you sure you don’t remember?”

“I’m positive.”

“Maybe you were remembering something that the Galra did to you, like a repressed memory,” Lance suggested.

“That could be.” Shiro grabbed a stool and sat down across from Keith.  “How are you holding up, Lance?”

“I haven’t gotten any smaller, but I also haven’t gotten any taller, so we’re going to have to tell the others about…this.”

“Any idea how you want to do that?”  Shiro started eating his food.

“Not really.  I want to tell them all at once so I don’t have to repeat myself, but I don’t really know how to explain what happened.” 

“It seems pretty straightforward to me.  You got hit by a spell and shrunk.” Keith commented.

“Easy for you to say.  You’re not the one that’s suddenly 3 inches tall!”

“I’m sure Keith didn’t mean to offend.  This is a weird situation to explain to people.”

“I know.  It’s just…a lot to deal with.”

“If you want, we could tell them what happened.” Keith offered.

“Thanks, but no.  I need to do this myself.  Besides, I think they’ll be able to see it for themselves.”

“It still might be a good idea to prepare them for this,” Shiro recommended.  “Or at least tell them to be careful.”

“That’s sounds good.”

“Maybe you could hang back at first, Shiro.  That way, if everyone crowding around Lance is too much, you could take some of the attention away from him.”

“Hey!  I’m a Leo.  We thrive on attention.”

“Even so, I think I’ll do that.  Just in case.”  Shiro swallowed another bite.  “That means either you or Coran are going to have to warn the others.”

“I think it’d be best if Keith did it.  Remember how Coran was for the first test of the alarms?”

“Right.  I almost forgot about that.”

“Are you ready to tell the others now, Lance?” Keith asked.

“Ready as I’ll ever be.”

“I’ll bring the dishes back to the kitchen and get the others on my way back.  Do you want me to knock before we come in?”

“Yeah, that should give Shiro time to hide.” _And for me to pull myself together._

“I’ll be back in a few.” Keith grabbed the plates and left to get the others while Lance worked to keep himself calm.

* * *

Keith knocked on the door before turning to face the others.

“Lance is awake and feeling better, but you shouldn’t crowd him.”

“Why not?” Pidge asked.

“Something happened last night.”

“Something happened?!  Why didn’t you tell us?!” panic showed in Hunk’s voice.

“Because Lance didn’t want me to.”

“Is Lance alright?” Allura asked.

“Yes.  But also no.”

“What happened?”

“It’s easier if you see for yourselves.”

The door opened and everyone walked in.  The others looked around for Lance but didn’t see him.

“Keith, where’s Lance?” Hunk questioned.

“Over here!” Lance waved at his friends.

“Lance?”  Allura called out as everyone looked around the room unable to place where his voice was coming from. 

“Down here!”

“What do you mean dow…” Hunk started to say before a look of bewilderment came across everyone’s faces as they saw Lance standing on the cabinet.

“…What”

“The”

“Quiznak”

“Lance!”  Hunk exclaimed as he dropped to his knees in front of Lance, causing the cabinet and Lance to shake slightly.  “How..wha…”  His hands fluttered anxiously around Lance, who put his hands up in a calming motion.

“Hey, it’s ok, Hunk.  I’m ok, mostly.”

 “How did this happen?” Allura slowly sat down on one of the stools, shock still present on her face.

“We think that whatever Lotor did caused this,” Keith responded.

“But this should be impossible,”  Pidge stated.  “The square-cube law alone means that a person wouldn’t be able to survive being shrunk.  The oxygen molecules would be too big for their lungs to handle.  Not to mention muscle and bone stress or heat loss.”

“Pidge.  We fly giant robot lions that combine to form a super-giant robot and fight an evil alien empire in space, and this-“ Lance gestured to himself “-is where you draw the line of impossible?”

“But shouldn’t the healing pod have prevented this?” Hunk looked up at Coran.

“We believe that it merely delayed Lance’s shrinking,” Coran explained.  “Because he is not physically injured, the healing pod doesn’t register anything being wrong with him from a medical standpoint.”

“Wait, you knew?!” Pidge incredulously asked. 

“Why didn’t you tell us?” Allura looked over at Coran.

“Because I didn’t want him to!” Lance yelled out, causing everyone to stare at him.  “We thought that maybe since Lotor’s only half druid, there might be a chance that me being tiny was only temporary.  As you can see, it was not.”

“Are you feeling alright, Lance?” Hunk asked upon seeing Lance’s face fall.

“I guess so.”

“How is it possible that Lotor’s spell did this?” Pidge came closer to Lance.  “This is breaking the laws of reality.”  She gently poked Lance on his shoulder as if to see if he was real, causing him to move his shoulder back.  _Not a fan of the poking._

“And you don’t feel any pain?” Allura also approached Lance.  _Ok, this is kind of intimidating having everyone crowded around and staring down at me._

“Nope.  No pain here.”  Lance pushed away Pidge’s finger with both of his hands.  _Her fingertip is bigger than my hands._

“Any sort of heat loss?”  Pidge moved her hand away but kept it near Lance.

“I mean it’s kind of cold in here, but that’s normal for the med bay, right?”

“True.” Pid,e responded.  “What did it feel like when it happened?  Just how small are you?  Did the spell shrink you by a ratio or just down to a specific height?”

All of the questions he was being bombarded with were becoming too much to handle.  It was time to let the others know what else had happened last night.

“Shiro’s awake!” Lance quickly yelled.

“He is?” Hunk asked.

“I am.” Shiro said as he came out of the closet.

“Shiro!” Everyone that hadn’t known chorused as they ran over to greet Shiro, taking their attention off of Lance. 

Keith stayed near Lance as he sank down on the cabinet.  Lance let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding as he vaguely heard Hunk apologize for hugging Shiro too hard.  He also heard Coran begin to explain once more why Shiro was awake earlier than expected and answer everyone’s questions. 

“Hunk’s going to be upset that he doesn’t have the taiyaki ready for Shiro.”  Keith commented as he looked over at the rest of the group.

“Nah.  He’s more happy Shiro’s ok.  That’s what matters.”  He paused for a moment before he heard the tell-tale *squeaking* of the space-mice.  He turned around and saw them jump down from the vent onto the cabinet.  It started to roll forward when Platt leapt down.

_Why are so many things making me shake?  This is getting repetitive._

Keith quickly reached out and stopped the cabinet.

“Hey, you guys!” Lance regained his balance.

The space mice ran over with worried *squeaks* as they circled Lance.  Platt pulled Lance into a hug, causing him to make a squeaky toy sound.

“Too tight!” He blurted out before Platt quickly let go.

Platt *squeaked* worriedly as he checked over Lance.

“I’m ok, just not used to you being stronger than me.”  _Or taller._

Lance realized that he had to look up to look Platt in the face.  He seemed to be about the same height as Plachu and Chuchule while Chulatt only came up to his chest.

_This is weird, but_ “At least I’m not the shortest one.” He smiled slightly.

Chulatt looked up at him annoyed, but not offended by the comment. 

“I’m guessing Allura told you guys what happened?”  The mice all nodded their heads.  “Good.  Glad I don’t have to explain this again.”

Chuchule started poking at him with a curious expression on her face.

“Yeah, this doesn’t really seem like it should be possible.” Lance brushed Chuchule’s hands away. 

“How are you so good at understanding them?” Keith asked.

“You’re looking at the Fuentes charades champion.  We played it all the time back home.  Veronica always thought I was cheating somehow, but I can’t help that I’m good at reading people.”

Chulatt *squeeked*

“and space-mice.”

Plachu began *squeaking* and shaking his fist in the air.

“Yeah, I’m pretty pissed off about this happening to me too.  Believe me, as soon as I’m back to normal, Lotor’s going down…if I get back to normal.” Lance didn’t realize he had said the last part out loud before Chulatt attached himself to him in a hug.  Lance was quick to respond and hugged him back. 

_I can’t believe just a few days ago, I was hugging him and he fit in the palm of my hand.  Now **I** fit in the palm of a hand._

Chulatt nuzzled into the hug while *chirping* comfortingly.  The other space-mice joined in the group hug, with Platt making sure to not squeeze too hard.

“Awww!  That’s adorable!” Hunk exclaimed as everyone focused their attention on Lance once more.

*click*

“And…saved.” Pidge put her phone back in her pocket.

“Did you just take a picture?”

“Yep.”

“Why?”

“Blackmail.”  Pidge smirked.

“Come on, Pidge.  Delete it.”

“I don’t think you understand how blackmail works, Lance.”

“Please, Pidge.”

“hmmmm.  Nope.”

“Pidge, delete the picture,” Shiro used his space-dad tone.  “Lance has been through enough already.”

“Fine.  I’ll delete it from my phone.”

“Thank you.” The space-mice brought the hug to an end, but stayed close to Lance.

_Why didn’t she delete it when I asked her to?_

_‘Why would she even listen to you?  You’re little more than a bug to them now.’_

_No, I’m not._

_‘Just think how easily they could crush you.  There is one paladin too many right now.  That would solve that problem, though you hardly count as a paladin.’_

_Shut up!  I am a paladin!_

“Did you find anything last night, Coran?” Keith asked.

“Unfortunately, I was unable to find any information on half-druids,” Coran lamented, “but I still haven’t gotten through all of the books.  There’s bound to be something in there.”

“Can’t Allura just use her magic to undo Lotor’s spell?” Hunk suggested.

“Since we are unfamiliar with the nature of Lotor’s magic, I cannot.  Any attempt to alter it could have deadly consequences.”  

“DEADLY?!”

“There is still much I have to learn before I could possibly undo a spell of this scale.” Allura continued as if she hadn’t heard Lance.

“What about the Blade of Marmora?  They still have some spies in the empire, so maybe one of them knows something about his magic.” Pidge recommended.

“Yeah!”  _Please, someone has to know how to fix me._

“It would be risky.  Some of them are pretty high up in the empire.  If they’re not careful, they could be found out.”  Keith responded.

“There still may be information in their reports.  Kolivan would be the person to talk to.”  Hunk suggested

“That sounds like our best bet.” Shiro let out a groan as his prosthetic continued to weigh down his right shoulder.

“I can reactivate your arm before we chat with the Blade.  Then it won’t be dragging you down.”

“Thanks, Pidge.”

Shiro sat down and placed his right arm on top of the counter while Pidge got her laptop ready.  She connected her laptop to Shiro’s arm and started typing away.  A few moments later, Shiro’s fingers twitched.  He started moving his fingers around as the feeling came back to the arm.  He reached for the cord to disconnect his arm from it when Pidge pushed his had away.

“Wait.  There’s something in the code.”  She typed a few seconds more.  “Aha!  Found it!”

“Found what?” Shiro asked.

“A virus.  Don’t worry,” a few more clicks of the keyboard, “It’s gone.”

“What kind of virus?” Hunk asked.

“Just a simple tracking one.   They must have put that in there so they could attempt to capture you again.  I can’t believe they would use such a basic virus.  It’s like they weren’t even trying.”

“Any virus would seem simple to you.  You’re a genius!” Lance exclaimed.

“I know.”

“If we’re all ready, we should make our way to the bridge to contact the Blade of Marmora.” Coran reminded the team.

“But how is Lance going to get there?  It would take him forever at that height, no offense meant.”  Hunk glanced down at Lance.

“None tak-” Lance started to respond.

“Simple,” Keith spoke over Lance, “Someone has to carry him there.”

“I’ll do it.”  Allura offered.  “I’m already carrying the space mice over, so what’s one more?”

_Does everyone have to talk over me like I’m not even here?_

As Allura laid her hands flat on the cabinet for Lance and the space mice, Keith wanted to argue against her being the one to carry Lance.  He wanted to be the one, but he couldn’t think of a solid reason why.  Allura has the most experience in carrying smaller creatures.  It makes sense for her to bring him to the bridge.  But then why does he feel so protective of Lance?  Was it just because he was the first person to carry Lance in this state?  Or was it something more?

* * *

“Ugggggh.  How much longer is this going to take?  Shouldn’t they have reactivated his arm already?”

“Patience, Ezor.” Lotor chided.

“It should be only half a quintant until he’s healed, given the data Narti gathered on how long it was till we saw previously injured members of their team back in the field.” Axha explained.

“Until then, I know something that can keep you occupied.” Zethrid said with a smirk.

Kova *meowed* loudly from Narti’s shoulders.

“I was going to say a game, Narti.  Get your head out of the gutter.”

Kova *meowed* once more while Narti pointed at the screen.  At first ,the rest of the team didn’t see anything.  Then they realized what that meant.

“It seems they found our decoy virus earlier than expected.  They must be improving their technology.  Good.  It’s no fun if it isn’t a challenge.  It shouldn’t be too much longer until the Green Paladin unknowingly connects the true virus to the main castle system.” Lotor stated.

“Are you sure they aren’t going to look for any other viruses in the arm?” Ezor questioned.

“She won’t.  She has too much pride in her abilities.”  A cruel smile crept onto his face.  “Her hubris will be their downfall.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just want to make sure it's clear that Lotor's crew not seeing anything is the signal from the decoy virus going down. I’m also not really sure if *chirping* would be a sound the mice can make, but cats are able to *chirp*, so why not space-mice? I also want to apologize for the blatant 'Shiro came out of the closet.' It was too good of an opportunity to pass up.


	6. Ground Rules

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! I'm sorry I'm late publishing this chapter today, but I had to watch season 2 of Dragon Prince. It's amazing! Anyways, we have another close call in this chapter and a few more characters learn about what's happened. Enjoy!

“…And that’s all we know so far.” Lance finished explaining from his position standing on the console.

“This is indeed troubling,” Kolivan said on the screen.  “I have not heard of any similar spells being used, but I will send word to our spies within the empire in case they come across anything.”

“Is there anything you could tell us about Lotor’s magic?  Are there any differences due to him being only half druid?” Allura inquired.

“His spells tend to be more volatile.  He seems to be the only one who can fully reverse them without there being any side effects.”

“Side effects like what?” Shiro asked from right behind Lance.

“You should hope to never find out.”

Lance could tell even without looking back to his right that Hunk was feeling sick to his stomach at the thought.

“You said he ‘seems to be’ the only one who can reverse his spells.” Pidge pointed out.

“We do theorize that someone with as strong if not stronger magic would be able to reverse them, but they would need absolute control of the quintessence involved.  It fluctuates greatly in Lotor’s spells.  Channeling the wrong amount at the wrong time would have dire consequences.”

“So, that means that Allura can fix me!” Lance exclaimed.

“In theory.  I’m still working on control in general, let alone when what I’m working with fluctuates.”  Allura stated from the left.

“But you can do it, right?”  Hunk asked hopefully.

“Given enough time to prepare, yes.”

“Is there any news you have for us, Kolivan?” Keith asked.

“Not at this moment,” Kolivan answered before there was a commotion on his side of the screen.  Suddenly, Slav appeared.  Shiro grit his teeth and clenched his prosthetic fist.

“Ahh, Kolivan.  I am so glad I found you.  There were 11 realities in which you had suddenly collapsed and in 3 of those you never recovered!”

“Slav.  As you can see, I am fine.  I am also in the middle of a private conference with the Voltron Paladins.”  Kolivan gestured to the screen while Slav’s gaze followed.

“Oh no!  This means we are in one of the 9,536,965,579 realities where this happens to Lance!  And he’s already dead in 16 of them!”

_Dead?!_

Shiro slammed the console with his prosthetic fist while gesturing with the other hand.  “Look.”  Anger dripped from his voice.  “None of this is helping.  We don’t need to know what happens to Lance in any other realities.  So go count the cracks in the ceiling or whatever it takes to know what’s happening in **_this_** reality.”

“…Now it’s 36 realities.”

Team Voltron wondered how the number could have changed so drastically in the span of just a few seconds.  They all looked down and let out a gasp when they saw that Lance was standing less than an inch away from where Shiro had blindly slammed the console.  Lance could see his terrified expression reflected in the metal before Shiro quickly moved his prosthetic away.

“Oh my God!”  Shiro backed away from the console.  Everyone realized in that moment what must have happened in the alternate realities.

Lance felt frozen.  He could hear his heart beating faster while his breathing grew shakier.  It took all of his strength to stay standing on his trembling legs.

“Lance!  Are you alright?” Coran asked as Lance’s legs finally gave out under him, answering the question.

Lance let himself collapse.  He felt like he couldn’t breathe.  _Almost dying does that to a person, I guess.  Ha ha.  Especially when it isn’t the first time_.  He heard Kolivan say something before the video feed was cut off.  The stares from the rest of the team weren’t helping him calm down.  He realized that none of them were approaching him, and for that he was thankful.  He already felt overwhelmed enough.

The space mice ran over from their end of the console to Lance and grabbed him in a group hug, hiding him from the others while he pulled himself together.  This time, no one commented on how cute they looked.  Lance was able to brush away tears that he hadn’t realized were falling down his face.  He hoped he was small enough that the others didn’t notice.

“Thank you.”  He whispered so only the space mice heard him.  Keith also heard him, but Lance wasn’t aware of that.

“Lance, I…” Shiro was staring at his prosthetic in horror before he looked over to Lance.  “I-I’m so sorry.  I forgot you were there.”

_'Look at how easily overlooked you are now.’_

_Not the time._

_If not now, when?  It’s only a matter of time until they realize how useless you are, especially like this.’_

“It’s okay,”  Lance said timidly as the space mice ended the hug and stood two on each side of him.

“No, it’s not,” Shiro said decisively.  “I almost…This just proves what Kolivan said.  We need to establish some ground rules given your current situation.”

“I can type them up, just need to plug in my laptop before it dies.” Pidge started looking for an outlet.

“Good idea,”  Allura commented.

“Who wants to go first?” Pidge sat down with her hands hovering over her laptop’s keyboard.

“I will.”  Keith volunteered.  “Someone should be with Lance at all times.”

“Come on.  I don’t need a babysitter.”

“It would help us avoid any potential accidents if we have someone keeping a constant eye on you.” Pidge pointed out as she typed up the first rule.

“It would probably be a good idea if Lance doesn’t walk around on the floor.  I don’t even want to think about what could happen.” Shiro recommended.

No one noticed Lance and Keith wince as they recalled what had almost happened earlier that morning.          

“Going off of that, you shouldn’t try to get around too much on your own,”  Pidge spoke as she typed.  “Ask for help when you need it.”

_But I want to prove I can do this._

_‘And just how do you plan to do that?  You can’t even pilot your lion.’_

“We need to ensure that only our closest and most trusted allies know about this,” Coran stated.  “If word gets out, Lance would become a target for more than just the Galra.  I’ve seen some horrible things for sale on swap moons.  If he wound up in one of them, there’s very little chance we would see him again.”

Lance *gulped* in fear. 

“Lance should stay on the castleship while we’re on missions.”  Allura asserted.  “That will help keep him off their radar.”

“Wait, I don’t get to go on missions?”

“It’s too great a risk with your current circumstances.”

“But I want to help!”

“You can still help me and the space mice,” Coran suggested.

“But…”

“No buts!” Shiro gestured with his hand, causing Lance to flinch.  His heart sank seeing the expression on Lance’s face.  “I’m sorry, but as Allura said, it’s too great a risk.”

“What if Lance only came on low-risk missions, like if we’re just going to go talk with a planet that isn’t part of the Galra empire?”  Hunk proposed.

“Or if we’re just doing recon or getting supplies,” Keith added.  “If he stays out of sight, it should be fine.”

“There is still an amount of risk then.  What do you think, Allura?”  Shiro asked.

“As long as he stays out of sight **and** keeps his comms online at all times, I think it would be ok.  Just for low-risk missions.”

_Yes!  Thank you Hunk and Keith!_

“I’ll just put no risky missions on the list.” Pidge typed in the next entry. 

“Or unnecessary risks in general!”  Hunk added on.

“When have I ever taken unnecessary risks?”

“Lance.  We’ve been friends since kindergarten.  I know you.  You always take unnecessary risks.”

“Well, they were necessary in my opinion.”

“Ok, so far we have someone has to be with Lance at all times, Lance can’t be on the ground, Lance can’t get around on his own, only our closest allies can know about this, no risky missions, and no unnecessary risks in general.” Pidge read the list out loud.

_Wow.  That makes it sound like I can’t do anything._

_‘But isn’t that the truth?’_

“Any other suggestions?  Lance?” Coran asked.

He thought for a moment.

“Just…Don’t grab me.  It’s kind of terrifying.  If you have to suddenly hide me from someone, then it’s ok, but only then.”

“Ok.  No grabbing.” Pidge added.  “Anyone else?”

Everyone was silent.

“This is a good start.  If anyone comes up with any other suggestions, let me know and I’ll add them.”

“If someone has to always be with Lance, where is he going to sleep?”  Hunk asked.

“Can’t I just sleep in my room as usual?

“But what if you need something in the middle of the night?  The doors probably won’t open for you and we just established that you aren’t supposed to walk around on the floor.  If you were out in the hallway in the middle of the night and someone else was awake too, they might not think to look down!”  Hunk exclaimed.

“That’s a good point, Hunk,” Allura commented.  “Who should he room with?”

“I’ll just room with Hunk, like at the Garrison.”

“That would be nice, but I snore.  You know how loud my alarm had to be for me to wake up.  What if you were in trouble and I didn’t hear it?”

“Okay, so Lance can’t room with Hunk.  And we’re not going to do any co-ed, so that rules out Pidge and Allura.”  Shiro thought out loud.

“I’m up at different vargas to make sure the castle stays ship shape, so that would wake you up, Lance,”  Coran commented.

“What about you, Shiro?” Allura asked.

“We just learned this morning that I have night terrors.  That would also disturb Lance’s sleep, so that leaves Keith.”

“Really?  This guy?”  Lance gestured with his thumb towards Keith.

“That actually would work,”  Pidge stated.  “Keith does have heightened hearing due to his ears, so if Lance needed something, he could be heard easier.”

“Makes sense.” Keith agreed with a shrug.

“Don’t I get a say in this?” Lance exclaimed.

“Lance, this is the best option.” Allura declared.

“We just want to make sure you’re safe.” Hunk said.

“I know,” Lance responded with a sigh.  “I guess it’s not the end of the world if I have to room with mullet.”

“Do you have to use that nickname?”

“Yep.”

“What now?” Pidge asked.

“I had a training session planned, but we can move that to tomorrow due to recent developments,” Allura responded.

“Free day, woohoo!” Lance pumped his fist in the air.

“I’m going to see if there’s anything more I can find in the library,” Coran stated.

“I’ll help you look,” Allura said.

“I’m going to go finish up in the kitchen.” Hunk started to turn towards the door.

“Can I help?” Lance asked.

“I wouldn’t say no to the company.” Hunk put his hand palm up next to Lance.

“I’ve got a few projects on the workbench I want to get done.  Let me know when the food’s ready.”

“Will do, Pidge.  The comms are back online now, right Coran?”

“Right-o, number 2.  I’ll see about upgrading the castle-wide comms later tonight.”

“I might go do some training today, just to see where I’m at,” Shiro said.

“I’ll go with you to make sure you don’t hurt yourself. You’re still recovering.”

“Keith being the one to stop someone from pushing themselves too far?  Now I’ve seen everything.” Lance commented from Hunk’s hands with a smile.

That got a chuckle from the rest of the team before they went their separate ways

* * *

“Yes!  We’re in!” Ezor exclaimed upon seeing that the virus had been successfully uploaded to the castle ship.

“Well done, Narti.” Axha praised.

Kova *purred* and rubbed his face against Narti’s.  She reached up and scratched behind his ears.

“Let’s go grab him now.” Zethrid’s eagerness shown in her words.

“Not yet,” Lotor said.

“Why not?  Isn’t this what we’ve been waiting for?” Zethrid asked.

“Yes, but right now his team will be hovering around him.  Eventually, they will let their guard down.  That is when we strike.” Lotor recommended.

“More waiting?  Uggh.” Ezor complained.

“Now that we have eyes and ears on their ship, we will be ready when the moment comes,” Axha stated.

Natri typed on her keyboard and brought a document on the screen for everyone to see. 

“Well, would you look at that.  They provided us with a list of rules they’re going to follow.  And they were so kind as to include where he’s going to be sleeping.”  Lotor said with a cruel smile.

“And it looks like he’s going to be going on some missions with them still.”  Ezor pointed out.

“We’ll give them a reason to change their minds on that,” Zethrid stated.

“Let’s give them a false sense of security first.  That way, the inevitable change to the rules cuts that much deeper.” Lotor recommended.

Narti brought up some of the camera feeds from the Castle Ship and they began to study their opponents in their own home.

* * *

“How much longer is this going to take?” Lance asked from his position laying on the counter with his right arm over his face in dramatic fashion.

“The beans just have to simmer for a few more minutes.” Hunk checked the water level to make sure the beans were still covered.

“Didn’t you already do that?  You soak them overnight, then you boil them and let them stand for a few minutes, strain them, and then do the same thing, but for an hour?  Doesn’t that seem redundant?”

“This part is different.  The beans have to simmer for a while so they can soften.”

“Then why even do the first boil and let rest?  Wouldn’t it just be easier to go right to simmering?”

“It’s just the way it works.  I have a feeling you have something else on your mind besides the beans.”

“Yeah…This whole me being shrunk thing is…a lot to get used to.”

“Well, hopefully, you won’t have to get too used to it.  Allura’s going to find a way to undo this.”

“Yeah, but we don’t know how long that will take.  How am I supposed to fly one of the lions like this?”

“Well…I think the answer is that Allura’s going to be subbing for you for a bit longer.”  Hunk said apologetically.

“I know.  It’s just…I was looking forward to being in Blue again.  Nothing against Red, she’s also pretty great, but Blue is my girl.  It’s kind of sinking in that I’m not a paladin anymore.”

“No one is saying you aren’t a paladin anymore.  You’re just as much a paladin now as you were before.  Shiro didn’t stop being a paladin when the Galra captured him, right?”

“Yeah.”  _But he’s Shiro.  He’s always been amazing, even before he became the black paladin.  If he wasn’t a paladin anymore, no one would think less of him._

_‘I wonder what they think of you, now that you’re like this.’_

“Exactly.  Here.”  Hunk took a spoonful of the beans and handed one to Lance between his fingers.  “Squeeze this and see if they’re done.”

Lance grabbed the bean with both hands and started pressing them together.  After a little resistance, the bean smushed.  He looked up and saw that Hunk was doing the same test.  The bean gave no resistance between his fingertips.

_He squashed that like a grape!_

_‘I wonder what else he could squish.’_

“Looks like they’re ready.”

“You’re not going to have them simmer for another hour, are you?”

“No, they’re done simmering.” Hunk turned up the heat and stirred in the tianal.  “Hopefully this will give it the right consistency.”

“So, this becomes sweet because you add a lot of sugar to it?”

“And a pinch of salt, or in this case, rintal.”

“Why do sweet recipes always have a pinch of salt?  It just seems to go against the sweetness of the food.”

“There’s actually a good reason for that.”  Hunk continued to stir.  “The salt boosts the other flavors.  It also helps strengthen some of the chemical bonds in the glucose.”

“So it tastes sweeter because you add some salt to it?”

“Exactly.  Do you want to add the rintal?”

“Sure.”

“Just grab a handful of it.  That should be about the same as a pinch.”

“How do you figure that?” Lance asked as he scooped up the rintal in his hands.

“Platt comes by to help sometimes and you’re pretty close to him in height, so it should be close to the same amount as when he does it.”

Lance was amazed at how large the crystals of rintal seemed in his hands.  He could feel how coarse they were as he stepped onto Hunk’s palm.  He managed to keep his balance as Hunk lifted him up to the edge of the pot.  Hunk placed his other hand at the edge of his palm to act as a safety barrier.

“Really, Hunk?  I’m not that clumsy.”

“I know, it’s just that one time Platt almost fell in and I don’t want that to happen to you.  Better safe than sorry.”

“Alright, I get it.” Lance dumped the rintal he was holding into the pot. 

Hunk brought him back down to the counter, turned off the heat and continued to stir the beans.  He then grabbed a metal pan from one of the cupboards and set it on the counter.  He grabbed the pot and used the spoon to scoop its contents into the pan.

“Now we have to wait for this to cool.”

“How long is that going to take?”

“Maybe 10-15 dobashes, or around 17 minutes.  The batter in the fridge should be done by then.”

“Why does it have to be in there for so long?”

“It helps the ingredients mix together better, that way the batter is smooth.”

“Cool.  So what do we do while we wait?”

“We can go see if Pidge needs any help on the workbench.  Many hands make light work, right?” 

“Yeah.”  _Even if said hands are smaller than a bean._

* * *

“Did you have to literally come out of the closet?  Again?”  Keith asked as he threw a punch at Shiro.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.  The closet just happened to be the closest place to hide.” Shiro’s smile gave him away as he dodged.

“This from the guy who said he would be not only the best man, but also the best ‘pan’ in my wedding?”

“The offer still stands.” Shiro aimed at Keith who quickly blocked.

“That’s not going to happen for a while.”

“Well, when it does happen, I want to be there for you and your husband on your big day.”

Shiro couldn’t help recalling what had happened between him and Adam before the Kerberos mission.  They had been heading towards marriage themselves, but sometimes things just don’t work out.  He had hoped that once he got back from Kerberos they could talk about where they stood, but some purple aliens had thrown a wrench in that plan.  He quickly focused back on training.

 “I can tell you’re going easy on me, Keith.”  Shiro blocked the punch that was thrown his way.

“I’m not.”

Shiro gave him an ‘are you serious’ look.

“Ok, I am.  But you’re still recovering.  I don’t want you to have to go in the healing pod again.”

“I know my limits.  I also know you.  You have something on your mind.”

“I’m just really glad you’re back.”

“I’m glad to be back, but I know it’s more than that.  We’ve known each other for how long?”

“Almost 7 years,” Keith answered.

“You know you can talk to me, right?”

“I know…I’m just worried about Lance.  I’m not sure how I feel about him rooming with me.”

“We all agreed that him rooming with you makes the most sense.”

“I think he hates me.”

“What makes you say that?”

“He called me an idiot before he passed out on the mission.  I cradled him in my arms, he mumbled something and then said ‘you’re idiot’ with a smile on his face.  Who even does that?!”

“Well, you’ve called him an idiot before.”

“That’s different.” Keith blocked Shiro’s punch.  “He actually is one.”

“Is that what you really think?”

“No.  I don’t know.  All I know is I can't get him out of my head and every time I look at him, I have these pains in my chest and I just know it's his fault.”

Shiro dodged Keith as he realized what Keith was feeling.  He had a crush and didn’t even realize it.  Shiro had learned through the years that there were certain times to fully explain something to Keith and other times to be more subtle.  This was in the latter category.  If Shiro told him what the pains in his chest meant, he would resist the notion and go out of his way to avoid Lance. 

“Well, maybe this will be an opportunity for the two of you to build some bridges.”

“Maybe.”

Their train of thought was cut off by Hunk over the comms

“Food’s ready!”

* * *

“Hey, Rachel.”

“Not even close, Hunk,” Pidge said from behind her welding mask.

Lance tried to ignore how intimidating Pidge looked with the sparks flying from the welder.

_She looks like a mad scientist, kind of._

“Come on, you have to give me a hint to what your real name is.”

“But this is much more fun!” She lifted up the mask to show the mischievous grin on her face.

“But I only get 5 guesses each day!  And I have less than a week to get it right!”

“Really?  What are you, Pidge, Rumpelstiltskin?” Lance asked.

“If I was, would that make you Thumbelina?”

“Hey, if anything, I would be Tom Thumb.”

“If I was Rumpelstiltskin, I would have dibs on Hunk and Shay’s first child.”

“I told you, she’s just a rock that I met and admire very much.”

“Keep telling yourself that, Hunk.  Anyways, what brings you two here?”

“The filling for the food has to cool for a bit.  We were wondering if you needed any help.” Lance asked

“I’ve got pretty much everything handled, but I do have a few questions for you, Lance, if you don’t mind.”

“No problem,”  Lance said as he climbed off of Hunk’s hand and onto the workbench.

“Good.”

_Okay, I’m not imagining that, right?  Her glasses just did the anime light glare thing._

“How tall are you normally?”

“About 5’ 9’’.”

“How much is about?  I need to know the exact height.”

“Ok, I’m 5’ 8 ¾”, happy?”

“Peachy.  And how much do you weight?”

“Pidge, you can’t just ask someone how much they weight!”

“I’m just trying to see if there’s some sort of pattern with what happened to you.”

“I’m not telling you that!”

Hunk bent down and whispered something in Pidge’s ear.

“That much?  Ok.”

_Hunk, how could you?  I didn’t think you would go behind my back, or I guess over my head._

“Traitor.” Lance glared slightly up at Hunk, but there was no venom in it.

“Sorry, but she’s just trying to help.” He sheepishly responded.

“Now let’s see how you measure up.”  Pidge snickered at her own pun as she reached for the ruler on the workbench.

“I thought we already said that I’m 3” tall now.”

“That was a guestimate.  I need the exact numbers if I want to be able to help you.”  She held up the ruler on its end.  “Make sure you stand up straight, or as straight as you can pretend to be.”

“Ha ha, very funny, gremlin.” Land sarcastically responded as he stood in front of the ruler.

“Looks like you’re…3 1/8” tall, making it a 1:22 ratio.  That means that your armor was affected the same amount.”

“My armor?”

“Yeah.  After we all left the bridge, I went looking for where we put it and your bayard to see if there were any changes in them.  Your armor shrunk by the same ratio as you did.  Your bayard, however, was still normal size.”

“That makes sense.  I dropped it before the spell hit me.”

“Well, that’s a good thing, right?”  Hunk questioned.  “This means that Keith will have a bayard to use in Red.”

“I guess that’s the silver lining of this scenario,”  Pidge responded.

“But that means I don’t have a weapon.”

“You’re not going to need one.  We’ll be here to protect you and make sure nothing happens to you.”  Hunk assured.

“Let’s see how your weight was affected.”  Pidge pulled what looked like a postal scale from the back of the workbench and zeroed the weight on it.  She put her hand down in front of Lance.  She lifted him up and he stepped off onto the scale.  It beeped a few times before settling on what he weighed.

“Interesting,”  Pidge commented.

“What’s interesting?” Lance asked worriedly.

“Your weight is more than what it should be given the square-cube law.  It should be 1/484 your normal weight, but it’s more than that.  This doesn’t make any sense.”

“Well it was magic that did this to me, so I think ‘making sense’ went out the window.”

“But you should weigh so little that a slight breeze would blow you away.”

“I think we can all be glad that isn’t the case.” Hunk said.

“It just bugs me how this is making no logical sense.  If it was logical I could build something to help.”

“If anyone can build a growth ray, it’s you Pidge.  You’re like the smartest person in the universe.”  Lance encouraged.

“And what am I, chopped liver?” Hunk said with a joking tone.

“Alright, Hunk is the smartest guy and Pidge is the smartest girl in the universe.”

“I’ll agree there,” Pidge commented.

“I’m going to head back to the kitchen.  The Tsubuan should be almost done cooling.  Do you want to come with or stay here, Lance?”

“I think I’ll stay.  I’d probably end up burning myself trying to sneak a bite before the food cools.”

“Or worse, you might almost wind up a part of it, like in Thumbelina.” Pidge laughed lightly.

“Don’t even joke about that!  I barely made it past that part of the movie!”  Hunk exclaimed.

“Sorry, I see that joke was in bad taste,” Pidge said as Hunk left.

_Is that supposed to be a pun?  Cause it’s not appreciated.  Or funny._

Lance thought back on when Veronica made him watch Thumbelina with her.  He did remember the scene Pidge was referring to, but not much else.  There were some frogs, bugs, mice, and fairies that were all interested in Thumbelina for some reason.  He hadn’t paid much attention, but he liked spending time with his sister.  She was the one that taught him about skin care, after all.

_Maybe if I had paid attention to the movie, I could have gotten some advice on what to do in this situation._

_‘Do you actually think a cartoon would be able to offer you any advice?’_

_Hey, Dora la Exploradora taught me English, so hell yeah a cartoon can help!_

He refocused on what was happening around him. 

Pidge was mumbling to herself about the results and how crazy they were.  Lance walked over and sat on the edge of the scale.

_This is probably a good out of the way place to sit._

“Medically speaking, you still feel ok, right?” Pidge’s stare was intense.

“I guess so.  I feel a little cold, but that’s not that big a deal.”

“It could mean that your body is losing heat faster than normal.  Smaller creatures do struggle to retain their body heat more than larger ones.”

“But why would a smaller creature lose it faster?”

“It’s because of the ratio between the surface area and volume of the animal.”

“That still doesn’t make sense.  A larger animal has more surface area, so shouldn’t they lose their heat faster?”

“But the ratio to their volume is smaller.  The larger animal is able to create more heat due to its volume.  Does that make sense?”

“I guess.”  _Nope.  Still don’t get it, but I’m not about to let her know that._   “What are you working on there, anyway?” Lance changed the subject.

“Just a few projects I’ve been meaning to get to.”

“But what are they?”

“I don’t think you’d understand if I tried to explain.”

“Oh.”  H _ow would she know?_

_‘Well, would you understand?’_

_Probably not, but it’d be nice to know she doesn’t think I’m a complete idiot._

“Is there anything I can do to help?”

“I think the welder is a bit big for you to use, so no.  Oh!”  Pidge reached over where he was sitting and grabbed something from the back wall of the workbench.  “Put this on.”  She handed the item to him and he saw it was a mini welding mask.

“When did you have time to make this?”

“Two pheobs ago.  Chuchule likes to help, so me and Hunk made that for her.  Safety first and all that.  Does it fit?”

“Yeah.” Lance pulled the mask down.

“Good.” Pidge did the same and got back to welding.

He watched her work in silence.  The only sound was the slight noise of the welder against the metal.  From Lance’s new perspective, the sparks flying off of the workbench seemed like fireworks. 

He didn’t realize how long he was sitting there when he heard the *crackle* of the comms overhead.

“Food’s ready!”

Pidge turned off the welder and placed her mask on the workbench.  Lance handed his mask over to her. 

“Something this small could get lost easily,” Pidge commented as she put it back where it belonged.

_I could get lost easily._

“This is probably the most organized space I have.”

“I think the random piles of wires and tools would disagree with you, Pidge.”

“I said most organized, not that it actually was organized.”

“Touché.”

* * *

“You made taiyaki?  It’s been so long since I’ve had it.” Shiro said.

“What’s taiyaki?” Allura looked at the food in question.

“It’s a pretty popular street food back home.  It's something between a pancake and waffle texture with a sweet bean filling.  And you even got it in the fish shape.  Where did you find a mold for it out here?”

“I actually made it in the forge.”

“There’s a forge in the castle-ship?”

“Of course there’s a forge.  What kind of self-respecting castle doesn’t have a forge?” Coran stated.

“It took a few tries to get the mold to come out right.  It’s not as detailed as I would like it to be, but I think it works.”

“Hunk, this is more than enough.  Thank you.”  Shiro took a bite out of one of the taiyaki.  “This is the best food I’ve had in phoebs!”

“I’m glad you like it.  I’m sorry I wasn’t able to make the ones for you and the space mice fish shaped, Lance.”

“No worries, big guy.  They’ll still taste good.”

Everyone grabbed some of the taiyaki and started enjoying them.  The sound of them all eating made Lance feel uncomfortable for some reason.  When Shiro’s stomach suddenly groaned, Lance felt afraid.  His mind jumped to _Juan y los Frijoles Mágicos_ and what the giant had wanted to do to Juan.

_That’s why the sound is freaking me out a bit._

“Something’s not agreeing with me.” Shiro clutched at his stomach.

“Oh no!  Did I not cook them enough?  I swore they were the right temperature!  Did the ingredients not work together?” Hunk panicked.

“No, they were cooked right and tasted fine.  I don’t know why this is happening.”  Shiro groaned out.

“What did they feed you while you were a prisoner?” Keith asked.

“I don’t know what it was.  Some sort of gruel.”

“Then that means this is the first solid food you’ve had in three phoebs.  No wonder your body’s reacting like this.” Pidge stated.  “Going from only liquid to solid food so quick has an adverse effect on your body.  It isn’t used to solid food, so it rejects it.”

“I didn’t even think of that when I was making it.  I’m sorry, Shiro”

“It’s not your fault, Hunk,” Shiro responded.

“I’m going to put together a meal plan to get your body used to solid food again.  Then I’ll make more taiyaki for you.” Hunk offered.

“You don’t have to do that.  I’ll get used to it in time.”

“We don’t want our black paladin falling in the field because of an upset stomach,” Coran commented.

“Please, none of us wish to see you like this, Shiro.”  Allura gently placed a hand on his shoulder.  He put his hand over hers and lightly squeezed it. 

“Alright, just don’t work too hard on it.  We don’t want our yellow paladin down for the count either.” Shiro smiled slightly at Hunk. 

The others continued to enjoy the food and talk more while Shiro was looking at his hand with a puzzled look on his face.

“Earth to space-dad, are you ok?” Lance moved closer to where Shiro was sitting at the table.  Shiro moved his hands away from Lance, not wanting to risk another incident.

“I’m fine.  Just thinking.”

“About what?”

“Just…how nice it is to be back with all of you.”

“Well, we’re all glad we found you.” Lance was then pulled into a conversation with Hunk while Shiro went back to staring at his hand. 

When he had touched Allura’s hand, the usual spark wasn’t there.  He remembered how much he cared about her.  He loved her.  But now, there was nothing.  He didn’t feel that way about her, even though he believed he was still in love with her.  How was that possible, to know that you are in love with someone and yet feel nothing beyond friendship with them?  Could this be a part of project K____?  To mess with someone’s mind and heart?  If he could just remember the name of the project, maybe that would give a clue as to what the Galra had planned to do with him.  Perhaps he could suggest doing some mind-melding exercises in the next training session.  That could help get his thoughts and feelings back together.  Maybe even help him remember more of the name.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you liked it! I'm trying to stick to updating every other Friday. These are the orientations for the characters in this story for clarity. Lance: Bi, Keith: Gay, Shiro: Pan, Clone Shiro: Gay, Hunk: Straight, Pidge: still figuring it out, Allura: Alien and doesn't abide by our current understanding of orientations, Coran: Same as Allura.  
> I'm also going to be putting a tally of the number of realities that have lost their Lance. I know, I'm evil. Don't worry, he survives in most realities.  
> Realities without a Lance: 42


	7. Nightmares

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I'm late publishing this, I was watching Ocean's 8 with my family. Anyways, warning of some slightly graphic violence in here. If you want to avoid that, just scroll through until the Ӂ symbol. All you need to know if you're skipping is everyone has nightmares about Lance's situation and talks about them, but Lance leaves out the fact that in his, the others were saying horrible things about him.

When Lance blinked open his eyes, it took him a second to realize where he was. 

_Why am I on the kitchen counter?  Did I fall asleep while Hunk was cooking?_

He stood up and stretched to try to get rid of the soreness from sleeping on the cold hard surface.  Looking around at the various cooking tools on the counter, Lance noticed something was a bit off.

_Did these get bigger?  Or…Oh no!  I got smaller!_

He wasn’t microscopic, but still a bit smaller than before.  Maybe only an inch or so tall, which may not seem like much of a difference, but that was 1/3 of his previous height.  He closed his eyes and shook his head to clear his thoughts.  When he opened them again, he realized he wasn’t the only one in the room.

His friends were all seated at the table next to the counter, but none of them were looking his way.

“Hey!” He called out to them, but they didn’t seem to hear him.

“Do you ever wonder what happened to Lance?” Hunk asked.

“I’m over here!” He started jumping and waving his hands in the air, but the others continued their conversation without him.

“No, why would I?” Pidge answered before cruelly laughing with Hunk.

“We’re lucky that he was the one hit by the spell,” Keith said.

“Yeah, can you imagine if it had hit you?  Then we would have been down one of our best fighters.  With Lance gone, we actually became stronger.” Shiro stated.

“He always was the weak link on the team,” Pidge added on.

“And he was completely useless as a paladin.  I still wonder why Blue ever chose him.”  Allura commented.

“You should have been the blue paladin from the get-go, Allura.  You’re miles better than Lance could have ever dreamed of being.”  Hunk responded.

Lance stopped jumping in the air as what the others were saying sunk in.

_Is this what they really think of me?_

“It’s too bad we didn’t think of bringing him to a swap moon.  We could have gotten quite the pretty penny for him there.” Coran said.

Keith suddenly looked over towards Lance.  The look in his yellow eyes terrified Lance.  That combined with his ears being down and to the side made him look like a jungle cat stalking its prey.

“Well. Well, well.  What do we have here?  A bug?  Oh no, it’s Lance.” Keith stood up and headed towards Lance.

“What’s the difference?  He’s always been a pest.” Pidge responded.

“You’re right, Pidge.  He is a pest.  He’s always bugging us.  And do you know what we do with bugs?”  Keith started reaching over Lance. 

Lance tried to move, but it was like his feet were frozen to the counter.  All he could do was shake his arms and look up to see Keith’s palm hovering over him.

“We squish them.” Keith’s palm began racing down towards Lance.

“No!” Lance screamed as he shielded his face with his arms, knowing it would do nothing to save him from his fate.

* * *

“No!” Lance screamed as he pushed away the hand that was shaking him.  He threw off his makeshift blanket and crawled back on the nightstand, his heart pounding.

_Wait…blanket…nightstand._

His breathing was heavy as he looked around the room.  He saw the Kleenex and cotton balls that had been serving as his bed on the nightstand.  The hand that had been shaking him was still hovering where he had pushed it away.  His gaze followed it and saw that it was attached to Keith, who was looking down at him with a worried expression on his face.

_That’s right.  I’m rooming with Keith.  It was just a dream.  Just a dream.  But it felt so real._

“Are you ok?” Keith asked as he fully sat up in his bed.

“Yeah.” Lance’s voice was shaky.  “Just a nightmare.”

“You too?”

“Wait, you had a nightmare?”

“Yeah.”

“But you’re Keith.  You’re not scared of anything.  You always want to rush into a fight.  What could you possibly be afraid of?”

“You’d be surprised.”

Keith’s tone let Lance know that this was not the time to press for more details. 

“How do you deal with the fear?” Lance asked.

“Sedate it with chocolate.” Keith deadpanned.

“Seriously?  Not some intense training or punching something?” Lance threw a fake punch with a teasing smile on his face.

“My dad told me that hot chocolate chases the bad thoughts away.”

“That’s sweet.  You don’t talk about him much.”

“What’s there to say?  He died when I was pretty young.”

“Yeah, but he’s still your dad.”

“I’m going to get some hot chocolate.” Keith changed the subject and stood up.  “Do you want to come with?”

“Yeah, though I don’t think I have much of a choice.  ‘Someone must always be with Lance’ and all.” Lance couldn’t help but flinch when Keith put his hand down in front of him.  The details of his dream were still fresh in his mind.  “Is there any way that I can go with you without being carried?”

“Sure.  Ummm.  My pj’s don’t have pockets…I could grab my jacket and put you in one?” Keith sounded unsure as he ran a hand through his hair.

Lance shook his head.

“I don’t want to be in a small space right now.”

“Ummm.  How about on my shoulder?  The space mice like riding around on Allura’s.”

“That could work.”

“I’m still going to have to pick you up if that’s ok.”

“Yeah, I know.  Just need a second.”  Lance let out a breath and hesitatingly stepped onto Keith’s palm and sat down.  His pulse felt stronger than before, likely due to Keith not wearing his signature fingerless gloves for once.  His skin was softer than Lance expected it to be.

_I guess the gloves do do something after all._

Keith lifted him up much slower than before.  Lance wondered if that could be related to Keith’s nightmare at all.  Or maybe he was just tired cause it was the middle of the night.  Either way, Lance was thankful as he awkwardly crawled onto Keith’s shoulder. 

“You good?” Keith turned his head to the side so he could see Lance.

“Yeah.” Lance got himself situated.  When Keith took his first step, Lance fell over sideways but managed to grab the collar of his pj’s.  Keith quickly put a hand under him and helped him back up.

“Quiznak.  Are you ok?”

“Yeah, I think I just need a handle or something to hold onto.  I’m not really used to this.”

“No kidding.  What could you hold onto?” Keith thought out loud.

“I could hold onto your stupid mullet.”

“It’s not stupid.”

“Well, do you have any better ideas?”

“…Fine, just don’t pull too hard.”

“Like this?” Lance grabbed a section of Keith’s hair and pulled.  The shoulder below him jerked up.  If he hadn’t had such a tight grip of the section, Lance would have been flung right off.

“Yeah, like that.” Keith grit out.  He turned his head to glare at Lance, but couldn’t see him because of how close he was standing to his neck.  He could still feel his weight, little as it was.

“Sorry.  Didn’t think you’d react that much.” Lance sat by his neck, making sure to have a good grip on the hair without pulling on it.

“Just be careful.  If something happened to you, I don’t know wh…I think Hunk would kill me.” Keith wanted to say that he didn’t know what he would do, but he didn’t know if Lance would appreciate that or not.

“He’d probably find a way to kill you with kindness.” Lance laughed slightly.

_Is he more worried about Hunk hurting him than me getting hurt?_

“Probably.” Keith laughed softly which caused his shoulders to shake.  There was the slightest of pulls on Keith’s hair that let him know that Lance was still on board.  He took one step, then another. 

Lance held on and even scooted closer to be leaning against Keith’s neck. 

_Maybe Pidge was right about that body heat stuff.  It feels like I’m right next to a radiator._

He welcomed the warmth as they made their way through the castle ship.

* * *

The lights were on in the kitchen when they arrived.  Hunk was stirring something in a pot while Pidge was sitting, staring down at the table with slightly puffy eyes.

“Hey, Keith.  Where’s Lance?” Hunk saw that Keith’s hands were empty.

“Right here!” Lance said with a wave while Keith pointed to him on his shoulder.

“Oh.  Smart way to carry him around.  Keeps your hands free.” Pidge commented.

“Plus, it’s nice to be closer to eye height with you guys.  Then I don’t have to look up so much.”

“But what if you fall off?” Hunk asked.

“That’s why I’m holding onto his hair,” Lance responded.

“You’re actually willing to touch his mullet?  After what you said about it?” Pidge said incredulously.

“What did you say about it?” Keith turned his head towards Lance.

“Hey, it’s better than falling to my death,” Lance remarked.

The others were silent as they remembered how dangerous this situation was for Lance.

“So, what brings you two here in the middle of the night?” Hunk asked.

“Bad dreams,” Keith responded.

“Join the club,” Pidge stated.  “Hunk’s making hot chocolate if you want some.”

“That sounds great,” Lance said.

Keith walked over to the table and helped Lance get down before taking a seat himself.

“I have a feeling the others will be joining us shortly.  No offense meant, Lance” Hunk apologized for his unintended pun.

“None taken,” Lance responded.

“What makes you say that?” Keith asked.

“Call it mom-friend’s intuition.”

Sure enough, not even two minutes later Shiro and Allura both came in.

“Let me guess, bad dreams?” Hunk said as he poured the hot chocolate into cups on one of the floating trays. 

“How did you-” Allura had a dumbfounded look on her face as she and Shiro sat down at the table.

“Like I said, mom-friend’s intuition.” Hunk turned off the stove and walked next to the tray as it floated to the table.  One of the ‘cups’ on it was the cap to something in the kitchen.  Lance figured that must be his cup, though it seemed more like a bucket from his perspective. 

The tray landed in the middle of the table and everyone grabbed a cup.  Keith grabbed Lance’s and brought it to him.

“Thanks,” Lance stated.

_I could have grabbed that myself._

_‘But you didn’t’_

“I’m sorry there aren’t any cups in your size, Lance.” Hunk said.

“That’s alright.  That just means I get more hot chocolate per glass.” Lance awkwardly drank from his ‘cup.’

The silence was only broken by the occasional *slurp* before Hunk cleared his throat.

“You know, with nightmares, it’s sometimes a good idea to talk about them.  It can make them easier to deal with.  Does anyone want to do that?” Hunk asked.

Everyone looked at each other, unsure if they were willing to talk about their dreams.

“I’ll go first, and if I’m the only one that talks, that’s ok.  Please don’t feel like you have to tell us.  Only if you’re comfortable talking about it.”

The others nodded before Hunk took a deep breath.

“Okay.  My dream started out like a good dream.  I was baking a cherry pie, or what it raspberry?  No, it was cherry, though that’s not important.  I was making it from scratch, just like my mom taught me.  There was flour all over the counter.  Probably all over my face too, but I didn’t mind.  I was humming some tune or other and putting all of the cherries in the crust.  You should have seen how juicy these cherries were.  They were so shiny.  Again, not important.  I kept on humming and pouring cherry after cherry into the crust.  I don’t know how it was able to hold so many.  The top crust wasn’t really anything special, it had a few vents to let the steam out, but nothing too fancy.  The oven was already warmed up, so I put the pie in and set the timer for 45 minutes.  I started cleaning up the mess on the counter when I noticed something.  There were tiny footprints in the flour leading right up to where the pie had been.  That’s when I heard it.”

“Heard what?” Lance asked.

“You.  Screaming in agony.  I looked around and didn’t see you anywhere.  Then, I looked at the oven.  The light had been turned on in it and somehow the temperature had been raised.  That was where the screaming was coming from.  Somehow, you had wound up in the pie.  I ran over and tried to open the door, but it wouldn’t budge.  It was like it was sealed shut.  The temperature kept going up and up while I struggled with the door.  I even tried breaking the glass, but nothing worked.  The pie started to boil, and some of the filling spurted out one of the vents.  It looked just like blood.  Your blood.  And the screaming kept getting louder and louder until it cut off.  That’s when the oven door opened.  I didn’t even get the oven mitts, I grabbed the pie and started tearing it apart to see if maybe somehow you were still…” Hunk’s eyes began to tear up.  “My hands felt like they were on fire, but I kept looking.  Finally, I found you, but it was too late.  Your body had been burnt to a crisp.  It turned to ashes in my hands.  I had baked my best friend in a pie.” Hunk buried his face in his hands as tears started to run down it. 

Lance walked towards Hunk and comfortingly placed a hand on his arm.  Hunk moved his hands away from his face and brushed away his tears.

“It’s ok, Hunk.  It was just a dream.” Lance reassured him.  “You don’t have to worry about that happening.  You would never do that, and besides, I’m a pretty loud person.  If something like that did happen, you’d hear me a lot sooner.”

“But you are quieter than usual with what happened.” Hunk said.

“It’s a miracle we can hear you at all,” Pidge added on.  “Your voice should be so high pitched that the human ear can’t perceive it.  Keith could probably still hear you if that were the case, but this whole situation goes against basic logic.”

“So you keep saying,” Lance said.

“Phew.  I’m glad to get that dream off my chest.”  Hunk looked around at the others.  “Does anyone else want to talk?”

“I’ll go,”  Pidge responded.  “Like in Hunk’s, mine started out with me doing something I enjoy.  I was tinkering with a machine and Lance was helping me get to some of the hard to reach places.  We finished the machine and I tested it out on a wrench.  A beam shot out and the wrench was suddenly giant sized.  I had figured out a way to reverse the polarity matrix.  I aimed it at a screwdriver, just to make sure the first test hadn’t been a fluke, and it wasn’t.  We had found a solution to Lance’s problem, or so we thought.  I aimed it at him and the ray hit its mark, but nothing happened.  I checked every part of the machine, but it was still working.  When I looked back at you, your body suddenly started shaking before you curled up in pain.  I started running some quick tests and realized what was happening.  Somehow, instead of growing you back to normal, the machine had destabilized you on an atomic level, causing your cells to start exploding.  I figured out that you only had a few hours before it would kill you.  I tried to find a way to reverse or just stop it.  I even used a biochemical treatment to target your pituitary gland and flood it with growth hormones, but all that did was speed up the process.  You kept saying that it wasn’t my fault, but how could it not have been?  All I could do was try to make you as comfortable as possible while your body destroyed itself.  You were in so much pain, but you were still able to say one last thing before…You told me that when we got back to Earth, to tell your family that you loved them.  And then you died, all because I didn’t think to test the machine on organic matter before using it on you.”

“Well…now you know for next time,” Lance said.

“But I should have known better in the dream.” Pidge took an angry sip of hot chocolate.  “I should have checked the molecular structure of everything that was tested.  Maybe there were signs in the structure of the wrench or screwdriver that could have told me to wait before testing it on you.”

“I’ll go next.” Allura put down her cup.  “In mine, I somehow knew that I had been working on getting stronger with my magic.  I felt I was strong enough in the dream to undo the spell with no consequences.  What a fool I was.  I channeled the magic and used it on one of the gladiator bots.  I was able to change its height with ease.  It felt like I was ready.  I found you and attempted to do the same.  I was able to connect to the quintessence within you and try to alter it so that you would return to normal, but the push and pull of the waves of it made it difficult.  Quintessence is normally like a pond in living things.  It is relatively calm on the surface, with only the slightest shift of waves and currents below.  But with Lotor’s spell, yours was suddenly a raging ocean, and the waves were more than I could handle.  I tried to fight against the tides of his magic and was able to make some headway, but you suddenly cried out.  I saw that your body had regained some of its height.  You told me to keep going, so I pressed on.  It suddenly felt as if there was a tsunami of quintessence getting ready to crash.  I was unprepared when it did.  It overwhelmed me and my magic could do nothing against it.  When I opened my eyes, I saw that you were back to your normal height.  I tried to shake you awake, but as soon as I touched you, I knew you were gone.  I had pushed too far and you paid the price for it.”

Shiro reached over and grabbed Allura’s hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze.  She squeezed his back.

“Thank you, Shiro.”

“I felt powerless in my nightmare as well.” Shiro began to describe what happened in his.  “Sendak had taken over the castle ship again.  We were all in handcuffs in the bridge except for Lance.  They hadn’t been able to find you.  Haxxus was making threats over the comms thinking that would get you to come out.  Everyone else was being knocked unconscious one by one while they waited for you to reveal yourself.  They were about to knock out Keith when I saw you out of the corner of my eye.  As Keith fell unconscious, you were able to sneak up behind me and started working to undo the cuffs with your bayard.  I tried to talk loud enough to hide the sound of it cutting the metal, but the Galra have excellent hearing.  Sendak came over to see what was happening.  I tried to shield you so he wouldn’t find you, but he shoved me away like I weighed nothing.  I threw myself at him, but the chain would only let me go so far.  Sendak was holding you in his prosthetic fist just out of reach.  I struggled against the cuffs, but they wouldn’t break, even with your help earlier.  It was obvious that he was holding you too tight as he explained how Voltron had failed.  How I would get to watch every single one of you die, all because of me.  Starting with you.” Shiro held up his prosthetic fist and slowly closed his fist.  “His grip on you grew tighter and tighter until…” Shiro quickly closed his fist, unable to put what had happened into words.  “And I was powerless to stop him.”

Lance *gulped* as his mind painted a picture of the events.

“But Sendak’s dead, right?  You launched him into space.”  Hunk said.

“He was in a pod, so he actually would have survived for at least a movement,” Allura explained.

“So it’s possible that he was picked up by another Galra ship?” Pidge asked.

“Yes, it is entirely possible.  Highly unlikely given how far we were from Galra territory at the time, but possible.” Allura responded.

“Would there be any way to track the pod to see what happened?” Keith suggested.

“No.  Those pods are not equipped with trackers.”

“Great.  He could still be alive and we’d be none the wiser.”  Lance exclaimed.  “I feel safer already!”

“I won’t let him hurt any of you.  I let you guys down when he attacked before.  That’s not going to happen again.” Shiro stated.

“You didn’t let us down, Shiro,”  Keith responded.

“Yeah, if it weren’t for you, Sendak would have done a lot more damage,” Hunk added on.

“You stopped him from hurting me,” Pidge said.

“I still feel I should have been more vigilant.  If it weren’t for Lance’s eagle eye, we would have lost Coran when fake Rover blew up the crystal.”

_But he’s not worried about the fact that I could have died as well?_

“Ooo!  Can eagle eye be my nickname?” Lance asked.

“I think your ego is big enough already,” Keith responded.

“It is amazing how large your ego is, even if you’re not,” Pidge said.

_Ok, that hurts.  I don’t have that big of an ego, do I?_

_‘What do you think?  Why else would they hate you so much?’_

_They don’t hate me, they just…_

_‘They just what?’_

“Do either of you two want to talk about your dreams?  You don’t have to if you don’t want to.” Hunk steered the conversation back to the main topic.

Keith saw that Lance was struggling with what to say first, so he decided to go to take the pressure off of him.

“In my dream, I was in one of the hallways on the castle ship.  I couldn’t see where it ended.  There were doors on both sides.  I opened them one by one as I looked for Lance, but I didn’t find anything behind them. There was a *squeaking* sound when I walked, like when your shoes are wet.  I figured I must have stepped in a puddle or something.  I kept walking down the hallway and opening door after door, but there was still nothing behind them.  I started moving faster, hoping that I would find you behind one of the doors, *squeaking* with every other step.  Finally, I reached the end of the hallway, but there was nothing there but a dirty mirror.  I brushed some of the dirt off and saw my face reflected back at me with yellow eyes.  There were some red splotches on the mirror.  I tried to rub them off, but as I rubbed away the dirt, they only became clearer.  Curious about what they were, I turned around.  Leading all the way down the hallway to where I was standing were red footprints, but only the right foot.  I crouched down to see if it was red paint I had stepped in, but the smell from it revealed that it was blood.  I angled my foot to see what I had stepped on, hoping I was wrong, but I knew what I would find.  It was mostly a red smear, but there were still enough details to identify it as you, Lance.  I felt like I was going to throw up.”

Keith didn’t think it was important to mention how panicked he was when he woke up, or how relieved he was to see that Lance was ok.  Well, ok except for the fact he was having a nightmare as well.

Lance was thinking back to the earlier close call.

_If he had stepped on me, how long would it have taken him to realize?  Would he have thought that I had gotten microscopic on the bed?  Would the others have been told what happened and looked for me only to realize what had happened hours before?  Would they have even cared?  Why am I even thinking about this?_

“That’s horrible.”  Hunk said.

“But that’s not going to happen, cause Lance isn’t going to be on the floor at all.” Pidge reminded the others of the rules they had created the day before.

“That doesn’t mean we aren’t going to be worried about something happening to him,” Shiro commented.  “This is a…unique situation that none of us are fully equipped to handle.”

“But we will be there for those times that something does go wrong to make sure he’s alright,”  Allura assured.  “We will make sure nothing happens to him.”

_Do they have to keep talking like I’m not even here?_

“Did you want to talk about your dream, Lance?” Hunk asked.

“Well, seeing as everyone else did, I don’t want to be the odd one out.”

“Don’t feel pressured.”

“Hey, like you said, it’s good to talk about them.”

_How can I talk about this without making them feel bad?  I know they would never do what they did in the dream, but I don’t want them to think that I think they would say that._

“In mine, I was smaller.  Maybe only an inch or so tall.  I was standing on the kitchen counter and you guys were sitting at the table.  You were wondering what had happened to me.  I called out, but you didn’t hear me.  I started jumping and waving my arms in the air and Keith noticed.  Thinking I had been found, I stopped.  But, you thought I was a bug.  And what do you do with bugs?  You squish them.  I couldn’t move my legs while your hand hovered over me.  All I could do was shield my face with my arms as your palm came down.”

“Is that why you were so panicked when you woke up?” Keith asked.

“When I woke up and your hand was right there, it felt like I was still in the dream.”

“I’m sorry.  I was just trying to shake you awake.  I didn’t mean to-”

“It’s ok.” Lance interrupted.  “You didn’t do anything wrong.  It’s just my stupid subconsciousness.”

“You know none of us would do that, right Lance?” Hunk asked.

“I know.  It’s kind of hard not to worry about things with me being this small.”

“You shouldn’t have to be like this for too long.  I’ve found some books in the library that may help in learning about fluctuating quintessence.”

“That’s great, Allura,” Shiro commented.

“Does anyone need more hot chocolate?”

“I’m good, Hunk.  *yawn* I’m going back to bed. It was nice talking about this with you guys.”

“Night, Pidge,”  Lance said. 

Everyone else had the same idea and left the room. 

* * *

**Ӂ**

As they went back to his room, Keith was thinking about Lance’s dream.  He wondered why he was the only one in the dream to hurt Lance.  Did that mean that Lance didn’t like him?  Was Lance afraid of him?  It wouldn’t be surprising, given that he had almost killed him.  He was distracted from his thoughts by Lance on his shoulder.

“Before we go back, can you grab something from my room?”

“Sure.”

Lance felt the muscles in Keith’s neck move when he responded.

_This feels so weird._

The door to Lance’s room opened.  His bed hadn’t been made and there was a small amount of clutter around the room.  It was exactly the way he had left it. 

_Home sweet home._

“So what did you want me to grab?” Keith looked around the room.

“My jacket.” Lance pointed it out on the bed.

“I think it’s a bit big for you right now.”

“It’s always been a bit big on me.  Besides, I’m not going to wear it.  I’m going to sleep in it.”

“But you already have a place to sleep.”

“No offense meant, Keith, but cotton balls and Kleenex do not the most comfortable bed make.”

“Well, what was I supposed to do?  It’s not like we have a tiny bed you can use.”  Keith felt a slight tug on his hair as he bent down to grab the jacket.  “Sorry.” Keith apologized as he stood up straight.

“It’s ok.  I think I’m getting used to this.”  Lance said as he readjusted himself on Keith’s shoulder. 

Keith walked back to his room, jacket in hand.  He brushed the cotton balls and Kleenex to the edge of the nightstand.

“I’m just going to put it here.”

“Be careful.”

“Lance, it’s just a jacket.”

“No, it’s not!”

Keith winced slightly from Lance shouting right by his ear. 

“It’s from my family.  My parents bought it for my brother Luis and it’s been passed down through all of us Fuentes siblings.  It reminds me of them.  Plus I have a family picture in the right pocket that I don’t want to get damaged.”

“Ok.  I’ll be careful.” Keith found the picture in the pocket and leaned it against the wall.  He gently placed the jacket on the nightstand.  “Is that ok?”

“Yeah, that works.”

“Which one of them is Luis?” Keith looked at Lance’s photo as he helped Lance down from his shoulder.

“Luis is the tall one on the left.  We don’t know how he’s so much taller than the rest of us.  That’s why the jacket’s so big.” Lance walked over to the photo.  “Standing left of him is Veronica.  She also went to the garrison.  Then there’s mis abuelos.  Next to them is Lisa, Luis’ wife.  Those two little rascals are their kids, Sylvio and Nadia.” Lance turned back towards Keith.  “I’m their favorite uncle, cause I’m the fun one.”  He turned back to the picture.  “Those are my parents.  And those are my other siblings Rachel and Marco.”

“That’s a big family.”

“Yeah, probably part of the reason I’m so loud.  When all of us get together, you have to shout to be heard.”  Lance got a somber look on his face.  “They sent it to me so they could always be with me while I was at the garrison.  It’s the last picture of my abuelo before he died.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Thanks.  I guess that’s something we have in common.  We’ve both lost people we care about.  Do you have any pictures of your family?”

“No.”

“Oh.  I guess there wasn’t time to grab them before Blue brought us out here.”

“…Yeah.” Keith didn’t want to explain to Lance why he didn’t have any photos of his family anymore.  It was better to just let him believe they were left behind in the shack instead of destroyed.  He got under the covers and closed his eyes.

Lance climbed onto his jacket.  One of the pockets had wound up on top of the pile.  He figured that could work as a sleeping bag with his new height.  It was much more comfortable than the cotton balls had been.  With the jacket, he couldn’t feel the hard top of the nightstand beneath him.  It wasn’t long before sleep claimed him once more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you liked it! If any of you are curious as to how I decide how many realities lose their Lance, I'm rolling a 20 sided die, where if it lands on 1 it will be 0 but all the other numbers are the same. So there's a chance he can be totally ok in one chapter.  
> Realities without a Lance: 12  
> Total: 54


	8. Training

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! This was originally two chapters, but I decided to put them together. Hope you like it.

 

“Good morning paladins!  I hope you didn’t forget about training today.  I expect to see you all on the training deck in 15 doboshes.  Every dobosh one of you is late, that’s an extra 5 doboshes more training for everyone before breakfast.”

Lance groaned as Allura’s voice rang over the comms.

_Why does everything have to be so loud from this perspective?_

He sat up and groggily rubbed his eyes.  The bed creaked behind him as Keith did the same.  He climbed off of his jacket and onto the nightstand while Keith walked over to the wall.  Keith pressed his hand against the hidden panel and the closet opened.

_It is amazing how you wouldn’t even know the closet was there.  There aren’t even lines in the wall giving it away.  Alien technology is pretty cool._

Keith started taking off his shirt, causing Lance to let out a small *gasp* at seeing him shirtless.

_Mmm, those back muscles…Not now bi thoughts!_

Keith turned towards him when he heard Lance, giving him an even better view of his chest.

“Do you mind?  Don’t be weird.  Just turn around.” Keith said.

“Sorry!” Lance turned away from Keith while trying to get his face to cool down.

_Like he said, don’t be weird._

_‘You know he doesn’t like you in that way.’_

_I know he’s straight, but I can still appreciate how good he looks._

_‘But what would he think of you if he found out about your little crush?’_

_That’s why he’s not going to find out._

While Lance was thinking, Keith was going through something similar. 

Keith had almost forgotten that Lance was in the room with him before he had *gasped*.  He didn’t know why Lance seeing him shirtless was making him feel so weird.  His cheeks felt warm and there was an odd tightness in his chest.  Was he feeling embarrassed?  He’d never felt embarrassed about his body before.  Was he worried about Lance somehow using this against him?  No.  Whatever it was, he couldn’t quite put his finger on it as he finished getting dressed in his paladin armor.  He didn’t have time to figure it out, as both he and Lance had to get down to the training deck.

“Are you done?” Lance asked his back still facing Keith.

“Yes.  Are you?” Keith responded.

“I don’t have anything else to change into, so yeah.”

“Didn’t Pidge say that your armor had shrunk too?  She gave that back, right?”

“Not yet.  She wanted to try to boost the signal from it since it got scaled down.  So for now, all I’ve got is the healing pod outfit.  Lucky me.”

Lance’s outfit was starting to look less pristine than the day before.  He wished that some of his other outfits had been shrunk too, like his jacket or even just his jeans.  It would let him feel a bit of normalcy.  He was glad that the picture of his family hadn’t been shrunk.  If it had and he had lost it, there would be no way he would ever find it.

“We should get going before we’re late,” Lance said.

“Good idea.  Do you want to go on my shoulder again?” Keith placed his hand down in front of Lance who quickly climbed on.

“Yeah.  I like being closer to everyone else’s eye level.  Less looking up or down on both sides.” Lance sat down between the collar of Keith’s armor and his neck and grabbed onto his hair once more.  “Onwards, noble steed!”

“Really, Lance?”

“Hey, do you want to be late for training?  Less talking more walking.”

Keith let out a slightly annoyed *huff* and started heading towards the training deck.

* * *

“I’m glad to see you’re all on time for once.” Allura glanced over at Lance when she said the last part.  The others didn’t seem to notice.

_Why does she have to say that?  It’s not like I try to be late._

“Shiro suggested we do some more mind melding exercises due to the change in who’s piloting which lion.  Everyone grab a headset.”

“What about me?  I don’t think those come in my size.” Lance pointed out.

“Oh, that’s right.  You can help monitor everything with Coran.” Allura decided.

“Ok.”  Mind melding exercises may not have been Lance’s favorite, but he thought he could at least participate in them somehow like this.

“Don’t worry, my boy.  There’s not much to it.” Coran assured Lance as he was handed over to him.

_That’s not what I was worried about, but thanks._

“After breakfast, I can try to make one of these for you.”  Hunk offered.  “It might take a bit, but with some reverse engineering I should be able to figure it out.”

“I can help.  I’d love to know more about how they work.” Pidge added on.

“That sounds like a good plan, but we shouldn’t waste any more training time,” Shiro commented.

_Good to know my friends worrying about me is considered wasting time._

“Shiro’s correct.  We should get started.” Allura stated as everyone except Coran went to sit in a circle.

“Alright paladins, you know the drill.  Close your eyes and think about your connection with your lion.” Coran said. 

Green and Yellow’s holograms popped up in front of Pidge and Hunk almost instantly.  Blue appeared for Allura hardly a moment later.

“Excellent, Allura.  Your bond with Blue has grown much stronger as of late.” Coran commented.

_How come she’s so much better at this than I am?_

_‘You know why.  It’s clear to anyone that Allura is the best choice for blue paladin.’_

_Well…Blue picked me first!_

_‘But she also abandoned you first, didn’t she?  She cut you off as soon as someone better came along.’_

While Lance was sorting through his thoughts, Keith was having a little trouble focusing.  The lion in front of him kept switching between Red and Black.  After a few seconds, Red appeared.

Shiro was having a similar struggle.  Black would appear in front of him for hardly a moment before fizzling out in a burst of purple.  It was obvious to anyone watching that he was trying to focus, but it had been so long since he remembered connecting with Black. 

“Patience yields focus,”  Keith said as the others felt Shiro’s struggle through the mind meld.

“I should have known you’d use that against me.”  Shiro took a deep breath.  Slowly, Black came into focus in all her glory.

“Well done paladins!  It’s amazing how quickly you’re getting the hang of this new arrangement!  Why I think you’ve done it faster than the paladins of old.  Now, focus on Voltron.”

_They’re better without me?_

_‘Of course they are. You were just holding them back.’_

Slowly, the lions all moved towards the center of the circle.  The arms and legs formed perfectly.  As Black came closer to the others, her image shifted to form the head.  Before it could connect with the rest of Voltron, the image became distorted and changed to something much more frightening. 

Shiro ripped off the headset and stood up when he saw the face of Haggar appear.  His breathing was heavy as the others removed their headsets.

“Are you ok, Shiro?” Hunk asked.

“To be honest, I’m not sure.  Even though I’m free, it still feels like she’s holding me captive somehow.”  He rubbed at his temples to try and get rid of his headache.

“That’s understandable.  You were a prisoner for a while.  It takes time to adjust back to normal.” Pidge said.

“There’s a part of me that feels like this is wrong, that it’s all some illusion she cast to trick me.”

“I assure you, this is real.”  Allura grabbed Shiro’s hand.

“Yeah, if it was an illusion, do you think she would have had me be like this?” Lance gestured to himself.

“Haha, probably not,” Shiro responded with a smile.

“We’re here for you, Shiro.”  Hunk said.

“We won’t let her get to you,”  Keith added on.

“Thanks.  I was hoping the mind-melding might help me get my thoughts together, or remember more of what happened, but it’s still mostly blank.  I think I remember the second letter of the project name.  It might be a u or maybe a double o.  Definitely an oo sound, but that’s all I got.”

“Ok, so with that, we now have K or C followed by u or oo.  So it’s a coo like sound.” Hunk thought out loud.

“Couldn’t it also be qu for the name?”  Lance suggested.

“Maybe.  Ok, so we’re a little bit closer to figuring out the name of the project.”  Hunk added on.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t remember more,” Shiro said.

“You have nothing to apologize for, Shiro.  Going through something like that and being willing to dig through the traumatic memories is a show of great courage.” Coran responded.

“It doesn’t feel very courageous.”

“It is.  Courage cannot erase our fears, courage is when we face our fears.”  Lance said.

“Where’d you hear that?”

“Newsies.”

“Of course your advice comes from a musical,” Keith commented.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“How about we all go get some breakfast?”  Hunk stopped the argument before it could grow out of control.  “Now seems like a good time for a break.”

“I couldn’t agree more,” Allura added on.

* * *

“It looks like he’s remembering more than we expected at this point,” Axha said.

“We’ll just have to move the time table forward then,” Lotor stated.

“But what if he remembers too much?” Ezor asked.

“That is of no concern to us now.”

“He seems to be having some doubts about being on the team.  He is also acting slightly different than expected.” Axha pointed out.

“Not to worry.  Any differences in his behavior will be written off as a side effect of being a prisoner.  We need to keep monitoring the situation to make sure it stays that way for as long as possible.”

Kova *meowed* in agreement on Narti’s shoulder.

* * *

After breakfast, Pidge, Hunk, and Lance had gone back to the training deck to get the mind meld headsets to bring to the workbench.  They were eager to see how they worked so they could make one for Lance at his new height.  Pidge had also finished boosting the signal in Lance’s paladin armor so the comms could reach as far as at normal height.  Lance was just glad to have another outfit to wear besides the healing pod outfit. 

Hunk was carefully taking apart one of the headsets while Pidge was digging through information in a book Coran had found for them in the library.  Lance was sitting on the scale with Chuchule so they were out of the way.

“It looks like there should be sensors on the forehead, temples, and behind the ears.”  Pidge looked at the blueprint in the text.

“I think I see them.  Does it say anything about how to remove them?” Hunk asked.

“No, just information on who created them.  Nothing on how they get an electroencephalography either.”

“What’s an electro-sif-ography?” Lance asked.

“Electroencephalography.  It’s a way of measuring brainwaves.  The sensors read the changes in the electrical field from the ionic current in your brain neurons.”  Hunk responded as he reached for the pliers on the back wall of the workbench.

“Wait, brains have electricity?”

“Yep.  There’s enough electricity in the brain to power a low-watt light bulb, though yours might only power a single Christmas light.” Pidge smirked at Lance before looking back in the book.

_Was that a dig at my height, or my intelligence?_

_‘Both’_

Hunk had the tip of his tongue sticking out the side of his mouth as he concentrated on removing one of the sensors with the pliers.  He was so focused on the task at hand that he hadn’t heard the last bit of Pidge’s response to Lance.  Slowly, but surely, the sensor was coaxed out.

“Got it!” Hunk grabbed the microscope and placed the sensor on a slide.

Hunk and Pidge started talking excitedly about the technology.  Most of it went over Lance’s head because engineering wasn’t his forte.  He decided to talk to Chuchule.

“How’s your day going?”

Chuchule gave him a thumbs up then pointed at him with an inquisitive look on her face.

“Mine’s going as good as can be expected.  I’m still tiny, which sucks.  No offense meant.” Lance was worried he might have accidentally insulted Chuchule since he was shrunk down to a similar height to her.

Chuchule waved one of her front paws and shook her head to show that it didn’t offend her.

“It’s just…yeah.  How do you handle being this small?”

Chuchule shrugged her shoulders.

“I guess you always being like this makes it easier.  Maybe you and the others can show me the ropes.”

Chuchule nodded enthusiastically before refocusing on what Pidge and Hunk were doing.

Pidge put the headset on the slide and looked at where the sensor had been.  She and Hunk gushed more about the technology and what substitutes could potentially be used to make it in Lance’s size.

“It’ll have to be a helmet instead of a headset because of the size, but I think that will work.”  Hunk said.

“We might have to visit the space mall to get some of the supplies.” Pidge thought out loud.

“Oooh!  Can we go to the earth store when we go?” Lance was excited at the prospect of seeing something from home.

“Ummm.  I don’t think you’ll be coming with if we go.” Hunk sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck.

“Why not?  It’s just the mall.”

“You got into trouble at your normal height last time we were there,” Pidge said.

_I remember you getting in trouble right next to me.  Heck, we all got in trouble_

“We all got in trouble last time-” Hunk began.

_Thank you!_

“-but there’s just too many people for it to be safe.”

“How is that any different from coming along on a recon mission?”

“For recon, we’re not trying to be seen and we would have our helmet comms.  We can’t wear our helmets in the space mall.  There, we would be talking to people, it would be loud, and if something happened, we might not realize until it’s too late.”  Hunk replied.

“Don’t forget about the swap moons.”

“True, true.  It’s just too risky.”

“Oh,” Lance said dejectedly.

“I can try to get a shark keychain for you if you want.” Hunk offered.

“Thanks.” Lance smiled slightly.

Hunk looked over at Pidge’s laptop and saw what time it was.

“We should go get some lunch before afternoon training starts.”

“Good idea,” Pidge said.  Both she and Hunk placed a hand down in front of Lance as he climbed off of the scale.

“Uh, well, this is awkward,” Lance said as he looked between their hands.

“I want to carry him,” Hunk said.

“You already carried him here, I want a turn.”

“He’s my best friend.”

“Well, he’s my friend too.”

“Guys, please.  There’s plenty of me to go around.” Lance had his hands up in a calm down fashion.

Pidge let out a snicker before apologizing.

“I’m sorry, I know I shouldn’t be laughing, but it’s just funny hearing you say that when you’re so tiny.  I’m sorry.”

“It’s alright, that’s why I said it.  Gotta try to have fun with this situation, right?”

“I’m glad you’re feeling better.” Hunk said.

“Me too.”

“I’ve got an idea for figuring out who gets to carry you-” Pidge started.

_Is it letting me decide?_

“-Rock, paper, scissors.”

_Of course not._

“How about winner gets to bring you to lunch, loser brings you to training?” Hunk suggested.

“Sounds good.  Best of 3?  Rock, Paper, Scissors!”

Every time their fists hit their palms, it reminded Lance of the close call with Shiro’s fist the day before.  He knew that Shiro didn’t mean to do that, though he noticed that Shiro had been standing further away from him than the others after that event.

_Shiro’s the only one who hasn’t held me like this.  Is he worried that he might hurt me?  Space-dad would never do that…at least, not on purpose._

He was pulled from his thoughts when he heard Pidge let out a *whoop* of victory.

“Yes!  I won!” She pumped her fists in the air.  She came close to hitting the workbench and knocking Lance over the edge in her excitement.

“Fine, Kaitlyn.” Hunk yielded.

“Closer, but still not my name.” Pidge put her hand in front of Lance and the three of them went to get lunch.

* * *

Keith and Shiro were also walking through the castle ship to get some food.

“How’s Lance rooming with you going?”

“Fine.”

“Have you two built any bridges yet?” Shiro said with a slightly teasing voice.

“No.  Maybe.  He talked about his family a bit.  They seem nice.”

“It’s good to know you’re getting along better with him.”

“It’s kind of hard to talk with Lance.”

“Why is that?” Shiro looked over at Keith.

“I think it’s partially how we butt heads so much and another part it’s hard to get a word in.  He can be so frustrating sometimes and then he says something I don’t understand.  I still don’t get why the chant can’t just be ‘Voltron.’  It doesn’t have to be complicated!”

“If it’s that frustrating, we could see about him rooming with someone else.”

“No!”  Keith and Shiro were both surprised by how quickly Keith responded.  “I mean, I’m the safest option for him to room with.  And like you said, we could build some bridges.  I want to get along with him.”

“That’s good to hear.  I hope you’re willing to open up to him as well.”

“That might take a while.”

“I know.  I still remember how long it took you to open up to me.” Shiro let out a small laugh.

“That was years ago, Shiro.  You can stop bringing it up, you know.”

“Don’t worry, I won’t tell the others.  Let’s go eat.” Shiro said as they walked towards the kitchen door.

* * *

“Am I the only one that thinks it’s a bad idea to train right after eating?” Hunk asked as everyone walked from the kitchen to the training deck.

“I agree,”  Lance said from his position in Hunk’s hands.  “If you have to wait an hour before swimming, it should be the same with training.”

“Lance, that’s an old wives tale,” Pidge commented.

“The reason we are training so soon after eating is because we don’t know when Voltron will next be needed.  We will not always have the luxury of time to prepare.” Allura explained.

“I don’t see how this applies to me since I really can’t participate in the training,” Lance said.

“You are not getting out of training just because you went and got yourself shrunk, Lance,” Allura said with a strict tone.

_Hey, I didn’t “get myself shrunk”.  I stopped the spell from hitting Keith, but she’s making it sound like I wanted this to happen to me.  I mean, sure, there have been times I’ve wanted to get out of training, but I wouldn’t shrink to do that._

“Well, what can I do?  My bayard didn’t shrink with my armor and I can’t exactly fight the gladiator at this height.”

“We will find a way for you to participate.” Allura snapped before apologizing.  “Sorry.”

“Are you ok, Allura?” Shiro asked.

“Yes, I was just up late reading last night.  I don’t mean to be so curt.  I believe I am merely tired.” She responded as they made their way onto the training deck.  “Let’s get started.”

Hunk brought Lance over to a raised section of the floor which put him at about chest height with the others.  Allura began leading the group in some stretching exercises. 

It seemed that Lance hadn’t lost any of his flexibility, which he was glad for.  It was one thing that was still normal.

After 5 quintants of that, Allura switched gears.

“Today, we are going to face the gladiator.  Coran has upgraded it with the help of Slav’s blueprints, so it should provide more of a challenge.”

“What about me?” Lance asked.

“You can work on your endurance by running laps on the platform.” Allura decided.  “Strength and endurance are both equally important in subduing an enemy.”

“Don’t worry, the gladiator won’t target you.  It’s already been programmed to not go after the space mice, so it should perceive you as one of them and avoid you.” Coran stated.

“Ok,” Lance responded.

_Should I feel offended by that?  I mean, I know I’m a similar height to the space mice, but is that really enough for me to be written off as not mattering?_

_‘Looks like you answered your own question.’_

“I wonder if we could build a tiny treadmill for you.” Hunk thought out loud.

“Or we could avoid going through all that trouble and just get a hamster wheel.  Haha.” Pidge suggested.

_I’m not some kind of pet!_

“As adorable as that sounds-“ Shiro tried to hide his smile “-that would be a bit demeaning to Lance.”

“What is a hamster?  And why would it need a wheel?” Coran asked.

“A hamster is a type of pet back on earth.  They’re similar looking to the space mice, but a bit bigger.  A hamster wheel is a wheel that is held off the ground that they can run in place in to exercise.” Hunk answered.

“That’s a very practical piece of equipment,” Allura commented.

“It is, until you remember they’re nocturnal and are always running like crazy when you’re trying to sleep.”  Keith’s tone let everyone know he was speaking from experience.

“Didn’t take you for the hamster type,” Lance said.

“I’m not.  It wasn’t mine.”

“Well then whose-” Lance started to ask before Allura interrupted.

“We should focus on the task at hand.  There’s still training to be done.” 

_Again with the talking over me.  Why?_

Allura got in her stance.  “Whenever you’re ready, Coran.”

“Paladins in position?” Coran said from the control panel at the edge of the room.  “Go!”

The gladiator-bot dropped from the ceiling and wasted no time in picking its first target.  With every lap that Lance made on the stand, someone else was facing the robot.  Pidge.  Hunk. Shiro.  Allura.  Hunk again.  Keith.  Back to Shiro.  Lance found himself slowing down as he watched the rest of the team train.

“Keep running, Lance.  This is no time to be slacking off.”  Allura called out.

_How did she even know I had slowed down?  She was facing the other way.  Do Alteans have eyes in the back of their heads?_

Lance picked up the pace, but still took notice of who was facing the gladiator-bot.  Keith.  Allura.  Pidge.  Hunk.

_Ooo that had to hurt._

Lance winced as the floor opened up beneath Hunk.  The room it brought those who fell in training to was actually right next door with a one-way wall/door kind of thing so they could still watch the others train and see ways they could improve.  The bot continued fighting with its staff.

Shiro.  Pidge.  Allura.

_And the robot just threw her across the room.  Ok._

Keith.  Pidge.  Shiro.  Pidge.

_That might leave a bruise._

Shiro.  Keith.  Still Keith.  Now Shiro.  Back to Keith.  Shiro once more.

_Why is it looking at me?  Shiro and Keith are both on the other side of it._

Lance stopped running and stared back at the robot.

_And now it’s moving closer.  Oh quiznak!_

Lance backed up to the edge of the ledge.  He knew he wouldn’t survive if he jumped off, but he didn’t have anywhere to go.  That was the most distance he could put between himself and the gladiator that was now targeting him. 

The gladiator raised up its staff and started to bring it down towards Lance.

There was a terrible *clang* as Lance dove out of the way on the platform.  He looked up and saw that Keith had managed to get all the way across the room to stop the blow.  He couldn’t see his eyes since his back was facing him, but given that Keith was growling slightly, he was willing to bet they were yellow.

In his hurry to protect Lance, Keith wasn’t able to get in a strong stance.  The gladiator shoved him out of the way and the floor opened up around him.  The robot raised its staff once more, but before it could strike, it was stabbed through from behind by Shiro's prosthetic.  Keith’s attack had distracted the gladiator long enough for Shiro to get to Lance. 

Lance covered his head with his arms as small pieces of the robot fell around him.  The door in the one-way wall opened and the rest of the team ran over to him.

“Lance!  Are you ok?!” Hunk asked.

“I’m still in one piece.”

“That’s not what I asked.”

“I thought you said that it wouldn’t target him?” Keith glared over at Coran.

“It shouldn’t have.”  Coran was opening panels and looking at the wiring to see what had happened.  “It should only target paladins, unless we’re doing a protection exercise.  Why did it go after Lance?”

“It might be that the system still sees Lance as a paladin.” Pidge ran over to help Coran figure out what had gone wrong.  “The tracker in his helmet still works even after it was shrunk, so it must be picking up on that.  We might just have to erase Lance’s data from the system.”

“But I have the best score for the shooting range!”

“You can get the high score again once you’re back to normal,” Shiro assured. 

“I believe now is a good time to be done with training.  We’ve had enough scares for one day.  We will continue this session tomorrow.” Allura decided.

“I could really go for a shower right now,” Lance said.

“That won’t be happening for a while.  You might wind up going down the drain.  That, and the water pressure would definitely knock you off your feet.” Pidge stated.

“Well, then what would you suggest?”

“…I think I’ve got an idea.” Hunk ran out of the room.

“Well don’t just stand there.  Let’s see what his idea is.” Pidge said.

Pidge, Allura, and Coran ran after Hunk.  Keith started toward the door.

“Aren’t you forgetting something?” Shiro pointed to Lance.

“Can’t you grab him?”

“Why can’t you?”

“You’re the only one who hasn’t had a chance to carry him,” Keith responded.

“Yeah, and you should do it soon, cause I won’t be like this for much longer.”

_I hope._

“I don’t feel comfortable carrying him.  I still feel on edge and I’m worried something would go wrong.  We’ve had enough close calls for one day.”

“Come on, Shiro.  When else are you going to get a chance to carry someone in the palm of your hands?” Lance asked.

“I would rather not literally hold your life in my hands.  What if my arm glitches and you get hurt?”

“Pidge checked for any glitches.  You’re in the clear.”  Keith responded.

“I have this nagging feeling that there’s something we missed.”

“If you’re that worried, I can just hitch a ride with Keith.  It’s not a big deal.  Let’s just go see what Hunk’s idea is.”

* * *

“That was risky, Narti.  If they had suspected tampering with the gladiator, they could have discovered our virus.” Axha commented.

Cova *meowed* on Narti’s shoulder.

“You have to admit, it was pretty brilliant,” Zethrid added on.  “And watching them fall all over themselves to protect him was priceless.”

“Yeah, if we hadn’t been studying them so much, we wouldn’t have known they would blame it on operator error.” Ezor contributed.

“Nevertheless, it was a risky endeavor.  If he had been killed, this would be all for naught.  We must tread lightly in our spying.” Lotor reminded his team of what was at stake.  “Everything depends on getting him alone.”

* * *

Hunk’s idea had been a bowl.  He had explained that since it’s what the space mice used, the same could apply to Lance because he’s a similar height to them. 

It was kind of like taking a bath in a hot tub, albeit one without jets, but still nice.  Having to have someone be in the room with him was annoying, even though he knew he was only there in case something happened.  Keith was sitting on the floor, back against the nightstand the bowl was on.  He had only commented a little bit about how many different products Lance used.  Shampoo, conditioner, face mask stuff, and a few other ones that Keith couldn’t identify for the life of him.  The bottles were set up on the edge of the nightstand to act as a wall to give Lance some privacy.  There were small amounts of the different products on the edges of the bowl for easy access, small being a relative term.  A washcloth was hanging on the edge of the bowl so Lance could get in and out on his own.  There was an extra set of the black under armor on the nightstand next to Lance’s dirty one.  Lance hoped that Coran was right in that it would shrink to fit, otherwise he’d only have the outfit he was shrunk in and the healing pod outfit.

Lance looked down at his hands.

“*gasp* I’m pruning!”

“That tends to happen when you spend so much time in the water,” Keith commented.

“Hey, it’s been a while since I’ve been able to go swimming, so I’m going to enjoy this as long as possible.  Besides, I still have a minute until I can rinse off my face mask.”

“It must be like a swimming pool to you.”

“More like a hot tub, but still better than the pool in the castle.  How the cheese is the water like that?  Water doesn’t float, things float in it!”

“We could talk to Coran and Allura about that.”

“Nah, I don’t want to bother them.  We’ve got bigger things to worry about.”

“And smaller.” Lance could hear the smile in Keith’s voice.

“Oh my gosh, did you just make a pun?”

“I’m allowed to make a pun if I want to.” Keith had to resist the urge to turn around and glare at Lance’s face masked face.

“It just sounds weird coming out of you.  You’re a hard guy to figure out.”

“Well, is there anything you want to know about me?”

“Yeah, I want to hear more about the hamster.  Why did your family have one if you couldn’t stand it?”

“They weren’t my family.  I just lived with them for a little while.”

“Oh, sorry.  I didn’t know.”

“Not a lot of people do.”

“Hey, my lips are sealed.  So, about the hamster.”

“Mr. Fluffy Cuddles was-”

Lance started laughing.  “His name was Mr. Fluffy Cuddles?  That’s hilarious.”

“Anyways, Mr. Fluffy Cuddles was their daughter’s pet.  She would put him in princess dresses and carry him everywhere.  I was in the room furthest from his cage, but was the only one that was bothered by him running late at night.  Apparently, I was the only one that heard it.  I guess now we know why.” Keith pointed to his ears.  “He kept me up so late some nights that I was falling asleep in class.  One day, I got so annoyed, that I went over to his cage while he was sleeping and started banging on it saying ‘How does that feel?  Huh?’ thinking that would get him to stop.”

“You actually thought that would work?” Lance asked.

“I was 8.  And all that did was get me put in a different home and labeled as difficult, troubled, and potentially violent.  They recommended against me being put in a house with other children and especially not in one with small pets.”

“You do good with the space mice.”

_And me.  Wait, would that mean I’m thinking of myself as a pet?  I’m gonna stop that thought right there._

“Well, it’s mostly Plachu that hangs out with me while I’m training.  I’ve caught him mimicking some of the moves.  He’s actually pretty good.”

“That’s adorable!” Lance washed off his face mask.

“Yeah.” Keith chuckled slightly.  “How long did Allura say it was until we reached Olkari?”

“I think we’ve still got a varga, maybe a bit less.” Lance climbed out of the bowl using the washcloth.  He grabbed a Kleenex and dried himself off. 

“Let me know when you’re done changing.  My leg’s starting to go numb.”

“Will do.” Lance approached the bundle of clothing that was the black under armor.

_Hopefully Coran is right._

Lance stepped into the head hole and saw the hole start to get smaller.  It changed at a quick but gradual pace.  Soon enough, the under armor fit him like a glove.

“I’m done.”

Keith stretched his arms over his head.

“Finally.  I was starting to think you might have turned into a mermaid.”  Keith turned around so that he was on his knees facing the nightstand.

“I wish.  Then these looks would be all natural.”

“I still don’t get why you need so many of these.” Keith moved some of the bottles of products to the side and rested his chin on his hands on the nightstand.

“Hey, I take care of my body.  If you love the skin you’re in, you need to show it some appreciation.  You might want to consider using some of them.”

“No thanks.”

“Keith.”  Lance approached Keith’s face and slapped his cheeks with his hands.  “I can see your pores.  They’re dying.”

“My skin is fine.”

Lance realized just how close he was to Keith’s lips when he responded.

_Wow.  If I took a few steps forward, it would be like he was kissin-_

_‘Don’t make it weird.’_

_Yeah, this is kind of close._

Lance took a few steps back and looked away while awkwardly coughing in his fist.

Keith hadn’t expected Lance to get so close.  He had to cross his eyes slightly so he could see him clearly.  When Lance hit his cheeks, he hardly felt it.  He tried to not breathe too hard when he responded since Lance was right in front of him.  That weird tightness in his chest was back.  Lance suddenly backed away from him and coughed in his fist.  Keith wondered why he had done that.  Was he doing the whole ‘no homo’ thing that every other straight guy did?  He saw the slight pinkish tint to Lance’s face and realized he must have felt nervous.  Keith knew that he could be intimidating without trying to be, but it was hard to imagine what that would look like from Lance’s perspective.

“Um…sorry I…um…” Lance tried to string his word together.

_Why did I have to go and make things so awkward?  All because of this stupid crush I have on his stupid self with his stupid hair and his stupid beautiful smile.  Ugggh, I’ve got it bad.  Why does he have to be straight?_

“I’m going to drop you off with Pidge and Hunk while I go take a shower.” Keith stood up and offered his hand to Lance.

“Sounds like a plan.  I hope the Olkari have the supplies they’re looking for.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry I'm having Keith and Lance be so oblivious in this. They both think the other is straight when they're not.  
> Realities without a Lance: 15  
> Total: 69

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Leave a comment if you'd like. I'll do my best to answer questions without revealing too much plot.
> 
> If you want to draw any fanart, feel free, just PLEASE no vore.


End file.
